By John Baron
The Pudsey Lottery has celebrated three years of encouraging people to shop locally with a special draw – and a pledge to continue its support of local business struggling in the cost of living crisis.
Yesterday’s July prize draw marked the third birthday of the initiative, which volunteer organisers say has seen 38,525 Pudsey pounds spent in local shops, market stalls and businesses in Pudsey.
Pudsey pounds are now accepted at almost 100 businesses across the town, in a bid to encourage shoppers to spend money locally.
The scheme, pioneered by the Pudsey Business Network Forum, was the idea of Councillor Trish Smith (Cons, Pudsey) and has seen more than 48,000 tickets sold.
She said: “This initiative was originally to push the ‘Shop Local’ message, but as COVID-19 hit we changed tack and set it up to support our businesses through what we knew would be an incredibly difficult time. It continues to support traders through unprecedented dand challenging times today.
“People buying just one ticket a month helps local businesses and not one penny of the Pudsey Lottery goes outside of Pudsey, apart from the bank charges!”
Lottery chair Nigel Monaghan, who is a family solicitor at Iron Harrison on Lidget Hill, said: “The pandemic came along just after we launched and we haven’t missed a month since – in fact the lottery became more important to support local businesses as they’ve needed people’s support during uncertain times more than ever.”
Thursday’s draw, carried out by lottery committee members, also saw the launch of the annual ‘good causes’ pot. This year will see five grants of £250 distributed to community organisations, schools sports groups, youth organisations and charities supporting people in Pudsey, Swinnow or Tyersal.
Applications close at 5pm on Friday, August 25. More details on Facebook and on the Pudsey Lottery website. E-mail info@pudseylottery.co.uk.
Around 30 Pudsey businesses sell Pudsey Lottery tickets. A list can be found here.