DID you know that National Lottery players raise £30 million for good causes every week?

Since 1994, more than £36 billion has been raised, funding more than 500,000 projects in the arts, sport, heritage, charity, voluntary, health, education and environmental sectors.

Every project makes a real difference to lives and communities across the UK – including here in Oxfordshire.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) helps people across the UK to explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about.

In Wantage alone, more than £6.7 million of that National Lottery money has been invested in more than 65 local heritage projects since 1994.

Wantage has an incredibly rich history and I’m delighted to learn that thanks to the National Lottery, more and more people have been able to experience our local heritage in its many forms.

This year alone, HLF funding has been provided for repairs to St Mary the Virgin Church in Childrey and to facilitate ‘Rails on the Western Front’ – an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the steam engine ‘5322’ which worked on the Western Front between 1917 and 1919.

Previous projects to receive support range from the archaeology under our feet to rare wildlife; from places of worships to educational projects on the areas we love.

The HLF is now encouraging people in Oxfordshire to apply for grants between £3,000 and £10,000 to undertake projects exploring the impact and legacy of the First World War beyond 1918.

That might be looking at the role the war played in bringing about universal suffrage; the introduction of daylight saving; or the mechanisation of agriculture, there is a wealth of local stories waiting to be explored about life following the war.

For instance, as I am sure many of you will be aware, the Army’s Central Ordnance Depot was built on the site of what is now Milton Park.

During the First World War, some seven million rounds of ammunition were sent to troops on the Western Front from Didcot and the depot claimed that it could supply anything to the British Army within as little as 48 hours.

Just like many towns and cities across the UK, the Wantage we live in today was shaped by the First World War, and so I strongly encourage local people to make use of the money available from HLF to explore its legacy further.

The money is available through HLF’s community grants programme, ‘First World War: then and now’.

Find out more about the scheme and how to apply for funding online at hlf.org.uk/firstworldwar