WINTON Play Garden has won a £50,000 Big Lottery Fund grant following a week of gripping head-to-heads in The People’s Millions in ITV Meridian West, it has been announced tonight.

The project, which is run by Bournemouth Borough Council, is one of four groups celebrating a shared total of £199,479 this week, thanks to winning over the voting public with their inspirational ideas.

It means that the project can now really make a difference by redeveloping a disused bowling green to create a play and activity garden, linking to an existing playground on one side and pavilion with cafe and toilet facilities on the other.

The garden will be designed to appeal to all children, including those with special educational needs through the use of specialist play equipment. Local scouts, brownies, guides and other local clubs will be able to use the garden.

This is the ninth year that the Big Lottery Fund and ITV have given the public the chance to choose where the Lottery good cause cash goes in their region. This week, six projects battled head-to-head on ITV Meridian West evening news for the chance to win a life-changing grant.

Since The People’s Millions began in 2005 the competition has funded 675 diverse community projects across the UK, with £34.9 million in Big Lottery Fund good-cause money.

Dawn Austwick, Big Lottery Fund chief executive, said: “People’s Millions is a great way for local people to get behind hard working projects doing great things for their local communities. This is a brilliant result for the people of Bournemouth and for the community in Bembridge. Thanks to everyone that voted and helped to changed local lives in their communities.”

Adam Crozier, chief executive of ITV Television, added: “The People's Millions is an exciting way for people around the UK, through the ITV regions, to win up to £50,000 of Lottery money to improve their communities. We congratulate all the successful projects on winning the public vote and wish them all the very best of luck.”

This year £3.6million has been awarded by the public through The People’s Millions across the UK.