OPAL takes home runner-up trophy at prestigious Lottery Award
The Open Air Laboratories project (OPAL) was recognised as one of the UK’s best environment projects at the National Lottery Awards 2011 in London on Saturday 5 November.
Image to insert (from left: Sarah West, Community Scientist, Sarah Baldwin, OPAL Communications Officer, actress Cheryl Fergison, Eastenders’ ‘Heather’, Maxwell Ayamba, SHEBEEN, and Dr Linda Davies, OPAL Director, Imperial College London)
OPAL, led by Imperial College London, beat hundreds of projects from across the UK to take home a runner-up trophy at the gala ceremony, which was broadcast live on BBC One and hosted by Myleene Klass. On accepting the award, Dr Linda Davies, OPAL Director, Imperial College London, said “We are absolutely delighted to have our project recognised with this award. Through OPAL, we are developing a new generation of nature-lovers, not just children and young people, but also adults who haven’t had the opportunities to get involved with nature. I’d like to thank my team for all their hard work and the communities across the country who have made OPAL such a huge success. A big thank you to the Lottery too for making this all possible”.
Presenting Dr Davies with their trophy, Cheryl Fergison, Eastenders’ “Heather”, said: “National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for large and small projects across the UK. The National Lottery Awards are a fantastic way of celebrating the enormous amount of hard work that goes into making these projects a success. ”
The project was pipped to the post by the Green Valley Centre, Bryncynon, which transformed an old waste ground into a thriving community garden providing local people with skills and training to grow local produce.
The National Lottery Awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects. All the projects entered in the competition had already received Lottery funding and the Awards recognise the difference that these projects make to local communities, and celebrate the achievements of the people behind them.
