Liverpool’s Florrie gets comic strip treatment as part of new National Lottery campaign

Liverpool’s Florence Institute, affectionately known as The Florrie, has been featured in a post-apocalyptic themed comic strip for the National Lottery’s Just Imagine campaign. The comic strip imagines what might have happened if the project had not received National Lottery funding to help with its renovation and includes a Manga-style cartoon version of HRH The Prince of Wales, who re-opened the now fully-restored facility back in January 2013.

The National Lottery Just Imagine campaign is using a range of techniques to encourage the public to consider an alternative reality of what might have been if The National Lottery had not funded more than 420,000 arts, sport, heritage and voluntary projects across the UK. Over £31 billion of funding has been granted to projects in the UK and currently the National Lottery raises £33 million each week for good cause projects.

The one-off piece of artwork re-imagines Prince Charles’ visit last year to the Florence Institute, a community and recreation centre, which received £4.2 million of National Lottery funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund in a £6.4 million restoration project. In the comic’s skewed reality, the Prince is walked round the derelict Victorian building shell by the Florrie’s chair Denise Bernard – putting an alternative spin on their real-life meeting. Denise asks HRH to imagine all those people in the community who would have been able to use the building if it had been lovingly restored.

Happily, the spectacular Victorian building was fully restored and officially re-opened by HRH The Prince of Wales, going on to win a Building Conservation Award at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Awards in October last year.

Vicki Kennedy, Director of The National Lottery Promotions Unit said: “Denise’s meeting with Prince Charles is the stuff of legend locally, and the story is a great fit for our campaign.

“The Florrie is just one example of how National Lottery funding benefits the whole community. Lottery funding has helped restore the building to its former glory and provide purposeful services for the local residents.”

Over £31 billion of National Lottery funding has been raised for arts, sport, heritage and community projects across the UK since the National Lottery started almost twenty years ago.

Released on Twitter (@lottogoodcauses #JustImagine) and Facebook today, the comic strip is the twelfth in a series of 31 items to feature through January – one for each day and each £1 billion of funding.

The Just Imagine campaign will run through the first four months of the year, with further phases including an original animation movie telling the story of funding, and other “positively disruptive” digital techniques, according to a National Lottery spokesperson.

To enable people to learn more about National Lottery funded projects in their area, the National Lottery has launched a ‘Good Cause Finder’. To see projects in your area, or to find out more about Just Imagine January, visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

Over £31 billion of National Lottery funding has been raised for arts, sport, heritage and community projects across the UK since the National Lottery started almost twenty years ago.

Released on Twitter (@lottogoodcauses #JustImagine) and Facebook today, the fake property advert is the fourth in a series of 31 items to feature through January – one for each day and each £1 billion.

The Just Imagine campaign will run through the first four months of the year, with further phases including an original animation movie telling the story of funding, and other “positively disruptive” digital techniques, according to a National Lottery spokesperson.

To enable people to learn more about National Lottery funded projects in their area, the National Lottery has launched a ‘Good Cause Finder’. To see projects in your area, or to find out more about Just Imagine January, visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

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