University Place vendor wins National Lottery award
26 Apr 2019
The regional winners were announced on Thursday, 18 April after voting closed
HMPasties Kitchen has won a National Lottery's People's Project Award, a scheme that has awarded around £42 million to 960 good causes across the UK since it started in 2005.
HMPasties Kitchen, a bakery employing ex-offenders in Manchester, sell a range of meat and vegetarian pasties from University Place every Tuesday.
The winners for the Granada TV region were announced after a public vote.
Lee Wakeham spent his youth in care and, because of the trauma he suffered during his early life, turned to crime in his teens. But after two spells in prison he turned his life around, eventually founding HMPasties Kitchen. His story featured on BBC's The One Show earlier this year.
Lee said: “A huge thank you to everyone who voted for us! We knew it would be a hard campaign as we were up against some amazing projects but we were encouraged from the outset with support such as we received from everyone at the University.
"Me and everyone at HMPasties were truly overwhelmed to have won and are looking forward to working hard over the next 12 months to develop our production kitchen and give even more people the chance to change their lives.
"Thanks again for helping us to bring out the good inside.”
Alison Shedlock, Head of Hospitality and Events said: "We are so pleased for Lee and the team at HMPasties. It is amazing what they achieve with ex-offenders and their pasties are amazing too.
"We are proud to have them as one of our traders in The Market in University Place - I am looking forward to a celebratory pasty when they return to campus next week."
As well as The Market in University Place, Lee's vegetarian pasties will be available in vegetarian shop Veggie Place from next week.
About The People's Projects
Since 2005, the partnership between The National Lottery Community Fund, The National Lottery, ITV and STV has given the public a say in how funding should be put to good use in their local area.