National Lottery Winners: Macular Disease Society

The winners of The National Lottery Awards 2008 were announced on The National Lottery: Big 7 - a special live BBC1 show, broadcast on Saturday 30 August.

21 Lottery-funded projects from all over the UK gathered at the star-studded event to find out who had won this year’s National Lottery Awards.  Now in their fifth year, the Awards recognise the difference that Lottery-funded projects - both large and small - make to local communities, and celebrate the achievements of the people behind them.

The 21 finalists had battled through two rounds of public voting to decide who would take home the National Lottery Award for each of the seven categories, as well as a cash prize of £2,000 to spend on their project.

The Awards were presented by high-profile celebrities, including boxing sensation Ricky Hatton, Gethin Jones and Holby City’s Amanda Mealing. The glittering gala evening also featured a one-off celebrity quiz, as well as special live performances from McFly and Gabriella Cilmi.

The award for the Best Health Project was the Macular Disease Society’s Train the Trainer Course, presented by Holby City’s Amanda Mealing.

John Collins of Optima Low Vision Services, together with Andy Fisher of Focal Point UK, provide the expertise and training for the Macular Disease Society’s Train the Trainers Programme for Eccentric Viewing.

The Macular Disease Society’s Train the Trainer provides an intensive 3 day training course to teach Eccentric Viewing technique, for people with macular degeneration. By training people to teach the technique, the project is equipping them to help others to regain their independence, while building their confidence and self-esteem.

Read an editorial from Tom Bremridge, Chief Executive of the The Macular Disease Society here. 

Video footage of the programme can be seen here. 

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