Community lottery helping local good causes

Thanks to your incredible support, the Swale Community Lottery has raised £6,765 for good causes across the borough in its first year.

Swale Borough Council’s lottery offers a unique way for people to support their favourite local charity or non-profit financially, while also standing a chance to win up to £25,000.

Tickets are just £1 for the weekly draw, and you can choose to support one of the over 50 registered good causes in Swale.  

The charities and non-profits receive 50% of every ticket they sell and a further 10% goes into the central pot, which raised over £1,900 since the lottery’s’ launch in 2025.

The remaining income goes towards prizes and operating costs.

The council’s central fund was given to the Mayor of Swale Cllr Karen Watson’s chosen charities; Sateda UK and Cancer Research UK, at the lotteries one year anniversary event.

The event, which took place at Heather House in Sittingbourne, celebrated the incredible milestones, including 404 lottery winners, more than 15,000 tickets sold, and how this support has helped the charities financially.

And thanks to the amazing support of Swale’s residents, the charities that signed up to benefit from the lottery received a monthly cash boost throughout its first year.  

This included helping combat the rising costs for SFM Radio, a Sittingbourne community radio station, increasing the savings of the Queenborough Guildhall Museum for larger purchases and helping fund the Avenue Theatre’s work.  

Valerie Williams, volunteer co-ordinator for Sateda, who received the central fund grant at the anniversary event, said:

“SATEDA are the only accredited specialist domestic abuse service in Swale for women and children.

“We work to help women improve their safety and move towards recovery through the services offered in our journey of support.

“The Swale community lottery, which we've registered with, has provided us with vital funds over the last year that have helped cover the costs of delivering services and providing resources such as books for our recovery programmes, so this money really helps us make a big impact.”

Cllr Hannah Perkin, chair of the housing, health and communities committee, said:

“This is an incredible milestone for our lottery, but none of this would have been possible without our residents’ support, and our local good causes who do such incredible work within our communities.

“The idea of the lottery is to provide another tool for charities and community groups to fundraise, that also gives people the chance to win cash and other amazing prizes.

“Thanks to the support we received over the first year we were able to help the good causes raise more than £6,000, helping towards rent, running costs and boosting their savings.

“In addition to the regular payments received through ticket sales, we were also able to give over £1,900 to the mayor’s charities thanks to the lotteries central fund.

“We can’t wait to see what the year holds for our community lottery; we need your support to keep growing the lottery and help even more charities!”

The lottery draws take place every week, and as well as the £25,000 jackpot, people could win prizes of £2,000, £250 or £25, or other prizes like a Switch 2 by entering this month’s super draw.

Tickets for the lottery are available on the Swale Community Lottery website and cost just £1.

The local good causes who have signed up to benefit from the lottery that you can choose to support are:

Swale Community Lottery Central Fund 
New Leaf Support  - Domestic Abuse Service 
Imago Community 
Minster (Sheppey) Cricket Club 
Milton Creek Country Park Trust 
Citizens Advice Swale
Nurture For All CIC 
The Autism Apprentice CIC 
Swale Pride 
Sheppey Miniature Engineering And Model Society 
Swale Community & Voluntary Services (Swale CVS) 
Avenue Theatre (Community Theatre) 
Faversham Assistance Centre (FACE) 
SATEDA 
Sittingbourne Community Radio (106.9 SFM)
Friendly Faces of Kent 
Teynham Village Hall 
Heather House Community Cafe
Age UK Kent Rivers
Sheerness Town Team 
Launch It (Kent) 
The Fenner Frost Foundation 
The Sheppey Hall Trust
Infinity Age UK Sheppey
Ellie’s Angels 
Vibe Community
Castle Connections Community Centre 
Historical Research Group of Sittingbourne / Heritage Hub 
MS Swale
Sheppey Matters 
Communication hub. Song signing 
Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club 
EKC Sheppey Secondary School 
The Hope Street Centre 
NexYouth CIC 
Bounce DMT & Trampoline Club 
Halfway Badminton Club 
Sittingbourne Orpheus Choral Society
The Freedom Centre 
Children and Families 
Faversham Assembly Rooms
Apex Boxing Academy 
SHEPPEY UNIT 301 OF THE SEA CADET CORPS
EASTCHURCH AVIATION MUSEUM 
Iwade@TheBarn Trust 
Kemsley Community Centre 
95.6 BRFM Bridge Radio Ltd 
Sheppey FM92.2 
Queenborough Guildhall Museum 
The Isle of Sheppey Band 
Family Matters 
Sittingbourne Christmas Lights and Sleigh Rounds
Swale Youth Development Fund 
Sittingbourne Heritage Museum 
Faversham Foodbank
Mid Kent Mind
Sports Connect Community CIC

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