The moment we surprised our top volunteer, Adam

The last few weeks have been quite exciting at Camelot as The National Lottery has recently returned to live television airing on a Saturday night on ITV. The new show helps tell the story of how The National Lottery supports Good Causes across the UK and has been focusing on celebrating the advocates and champions who make a real difference to their local community. The team have been surprising and delighting people across the country and capturing their reactions on live television.

To celebrate the campaign internally, we decided to surprise and delight one of our own employees and the obvious choice was one of our top volunteers, Adam. We recently shared a story about Adam and how he visits a local Age UK Dementia home every week on his lunch break. After hearing how Adam went above and beyond by learning how to drive a minibus to ensure the residents didn’t miss out on a trip to the seaside, we knew that he deserved a very special thank you.

We contacted Chalmers Court, the Age UK centre that Adam visits weekly and they jumped at the chance to be involved. We sent a camera crew along and asked the staff and residents to record their own personal messages of thanks. The Dementia patients shared some heartfelt stories, recalling their fondest memories of Adam and how much they enjoy his visits. We decided to play the video at the All Together, our company-wide update that takes place every few months.

An unsuspecting Adam was called up on to the stage by our CEO, Nigel Railton and congratulated for all his volunteering efforts over the last few years. With the entire organisation watching, we played the video to Adam and he was completely blown away! There were tears and laughter from an emotional audience as the video played and after roaring round of applause, Adam received a well-deserved standing ovation. It really was a magical moment and one that we won’t forget for a long time to come.

Adam was completely in shock but assured us that he loved the gesture and was very moved by the messages. Well done Adam and thanks to everyone at Camelot and Chalmers Court for doing such a great job on a top-secret mission!

It’s moments like these that make us extremely #ProudToBeCamelot

Watch the moment we surprised Adam here: