“I LOVE living in this country at moments like this.”

These were the words of Bob Geldof when interviewed by the BBC about the new Band Aid 30 song to raise money to tackle the Ebola virus.

Bob Geldof was paying tribute to the extraordinary generosity of the British people in supporting emergency appeals such as Band Aid.

The single topped the iTunes chart within an hour of going on sale.

Geldof went on to say the UK “led the world” in this form of charity giving.

But this generosity in supporting charities does not only appear in emergencies.

It is demonstrated all year round.

Figures released by the Charities Aid Foundation reveal that charitable giving in the UK increased by £1.1 billion in 2012/2013 to £10.4bn.

It is clear therefore that fears expressed that the creation of a National Lottery would have a detrimental effect on charities were groundless.

It is now 20 years since the UK National Lottery was launched.

Since its launch the National Lottery has raised over £32bn for good causes.

It has awarded over 450,000 grants to good causes.

National Lottery funding contributed almost £2.2bn towards the costs of staging the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

In Wales over £1 billion has been raised for good causes since 1994.

Five organisations distribute the money and they are the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Arts Council of Wales, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, the Big Lottery Fund and Sport Wales.

The Big Lottery Fund awards funds to projects supporting health, education, environment and charitable purposes.

Their funding supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities.

In my role as shadow minister for sport I am particularly interested in the grants provided by Sport Wales to promote grassroots sports and local sports clubs.

So far this year, for example, 47 grants have been made by Sport Wales to clubs and organisations in Newport.

The vast majority of these have been small grants of less than £1,500 to help with coaching and equipment helping these clubs to grow and to thrive.

The National Lottery has been a great success and long may it continue to make a positive impact on life in Britain.

May I take this opportunity of wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year.