Lotto winners treat children at end of animal-therapy course

Pupils from Bilston CE Primary School were presented with "Winter Well-Being" packs which had been donated by lottery winners Brenda Portch from Kingswinford, Tom and Rita Naylor from South Staffordshire and Jodie Scullion from Northfield, Birmingham.

The packs were a reward for completing a six-week lottery funded well-being course.

The course was run by Wolverhampton-based HugglePets, which provides a range of animal-based therapies for people of all ages.

The children took part in programmes to help them identify healthy and unhealthy relationships, building confidence, self-esteem and resilience, with the help of therapists and interactions with animals.

The centre also has an aquarium to provide a calming space.

Each child received a pack containing a well-being book and diary to explore positivity and log the good things in their lives, an animal stress ball, and of course some treats.

Since 2019 HugglePets in the Community has received £356,327 in National Lottery funding.

The non-profit making group was awarded £10,000 in 2019 to install disabled toilets to improve accessibility, and then last year it received a further £346,327 for a project using animals to support people experiencing mental health and social isolation.

The project also provides a central point for people of all ages to come together, using animals to spark conversations, friendships, and connections.

Brenda, who won £1.5 million in The National Lottery in 2006, said, “Children are our future, it’s vital that we nurture and support them and creative schemes like HugglePets are inspirational.

"The courses created here are making a huge difference and I love how such a simple idea, to use animals, is helping so many people.”

Tom and Rita, originally from Wednesbury, won £15.5 million in 2001.

Tom, a retired lorry driver said, "Rita and I are animal lovers and think the idea of helping people, especially children, using animals is fantastic.”

Jodie, who won £1 million in 2019, said, “I am very humbled to have delivered our Winter Well-Being packs to this amazing place and to meet some truly deserving school children. A huge thank you to everyone at HugglePets for the amazing work they do, helping so many people across Birmingham and the Black Country.”

Hannah Dixon, who runs the HugglePets from HugglePets which is based in Cooper Street, said: “A massive thanks to Brenda, Jodie, Tom and Rita for their kind donation which is the perfect end to one of our well-being courses, and ties in nicely to the continued support HugglePets has received from The National Lottery players to help deliver these life-changing services."

She said the scheme included a total of 24 children, also including youngsters from Hillary Primary School in Walsall and Dovecotes Primary in Wolverhampton.

“These programmes are designed by the therapy team at HugglePetsCIC and are the most popular topics identified in the community.”

By playing any National Lottery game, players generate more than £30M each week for National Lottery-funded projects. This money helps support everything from the local charity making a difference where you live through to helping our nation’s athletes win Olympic and Paralympic gold medals. To date, over £45BN has been raised and distributed to National Lottery Good Causes through more than 660,000 individual grants.

Thanks to National Lottery players, over £1.2BN is being used by charities and organisations affected by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, which includes over £600M in funding support from the National Lottery Community

Fund which is being used to help groups best placed to support people and communities through the crisis.