{"id":517118,"date":"2025-10-21T13:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/517118\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T13:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:56:14","slug":"claudia-winkleman-visits-sheffield-charity-to-see-how-lottery-funding-is-helping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/517118\/","title":{"rendered":"Claudia Winkleman visits Sheffield charity to see how Lottery funding is helping"},"content":{"rendered":"

WORKING TOGETHER: Kendall Turner and Claudia Winkleman<\/p>\n

A community flower garden in Sheffield will light up the big screen as it becomes the first to feature in a series of stunning films from The National Lottery. <\/p>\n

Bloom, a community flower garden for women and non-binary people, was visited by Claudia Winkleman to create an emotional film, which will be shown in cinemas and online nationwide. <\/p>\n

The films reveal the difference that is made to people\u2019s lives each time someone buys a National Lottery ticket.<\/p>\n

Kendall Turner, one of the directors of Bloom, said: \u201cClaudia is the first celebrity I\u2019ve ever met. <\/p>\n

“When we took over the allotments six years ago, there were no roofs on any of the buildings and the weeds were taller than me. <\/p>\n

So, to have Claudia Winkleman in our little shed just felt crazy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to National Lottery players, Bloom has received \u00a3269k in funding across the past four years, enabling hundreds of women and non-binary people to take care of their mental health and wellbeing, learn about flowers and gardening and feel less isolated.<\/p>\n

\"\"PLACE TO GROW: Bloom is somewhere people can go to feel less isolated and improve their mental health<\/p>\n

Claudia said: \u201cEveryone plays to be in with a chance of winning a life-changing prize, but we are revealing the unwritten story of the difference National Lottery funding makes in every community in every corner of the country. <\/p>\n

“Meeting Kendall and seeing the amazing work that Bloom does for the community brought that alive for me, and I cannot put into words the gratitude and happiness, I saw at every single project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to share with the nation a small insight into the difference you make each and every time you buy a ticket \u2013 thank you, this is all made possible because of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Kendall started Bloom Sheffield<\/a> in 2019, she was 24 and working as a special educational needs (SEN) teacher, a job she found \u201cincredibly challenging\u201d. <\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI was struggling with my mental health as I\u2019d just moved to Sheffield
and didn\u2019t really have any friends or a network that could support me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spending an hour every evening on an allotment helped Kendall relax. \u201cI decided that everyone should have the opportunity to reap the benefits of being outside and gardening,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI took over an allotment in the heart of Sheffield and organised a little community gardening session that three people turned up to. We just kept going and have developed enormously since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Hello<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Nowadays, Bloom Sheffield has two community gardens where women and non-binary people can learn gardening skills and two production gardens where it grows the flowers it sells in its shop. <\/p>\n

Proceeds from the flower sales are reinvested directly into the project. <\/p>\n

Bloom Sheffield has more than 60 volunteers and, in a typical week, about 70 women and non-binary people attend its community sessions, therapeutic workshops and mum-and-toddler groups.<\/p>\n

Kendall is a firm believer in the mental health benefits of gardening. \u201cGrowing something from a seed and selling it really builds self-esteem,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really empowering. It\u2019s also great to have an activity that\u2019s collaborative
but doesn\u2019t require you to talk if you don\u2019t want to. <\/p>\n

“There’s no pressure to speak, but you can relax and open up if you choose to.\u201d<\/p>\n

National Lottery support has played a crucial role in helping Bloom Sheffield blossom. <\/p>\n

Kendall said: \u201cThis is funding for core costs, and it\u2019s really helped us with our consistency; to know that we\u2019ll be open for another three years, knowing
we\u2019ll be able to deliver and that we have the space to grow, literally and figuratively. <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s totally changed the game for us and we\u2019re so incredibly grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her role as ambassador-in-chief, Claudia will continue to champion the inspiring stories and incredible people across the country whose lives have been transformed by National Lottery funding. <\/p>\n

Claudia will be working with The National Lottery to tell these stories as part of a long-term partnership. <\/p>\n

The unique films showcase the difference National Lottery funding is making to grassroots projects supporting the arts, communities, heritage, and sport. <\/p>\n

Claudia will be accompanying a local National Lottery player to reveal the life-changing impact made possible every time they play.<\/p>\n

Since National Lottery funding began in 1994, more than 650,000 projects have been funded with the astonishing \u00a350bn raised by players with a little pink ticket or scratchcard. <\/p>\n

Every week, on average, National Lottery players raise more than \u00a330m, which enables hundreds of projects to receive funding in every postcode area across the country.<\/p>\n

Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WORKING TOGETHER: Kendall Turner and Claudia Winkleman A community flower garden in Sheffield will light up the big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,12893,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-517118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-inyourarea-community","12":"tag-sheffield","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115412506084779198","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}