National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000

The Caribbean Cultural Connections, High Wycombe

Applicant: Vincy Alliance MAS CIC

Project description: To deliver a 2-day cultural weekend celebrating Vincentian heritage in High Wycombe, developed via a programme of regular community workshops and engagement events. The day will feature a carnival showcase, local musicians, and heritage displays from Black and Carribean communities in the area.

Decision: Reject

FolkLaw

Applicant: Five ASide Theatre CIC

Project description: To offer a wide-reaching programme of artistic training, events, and activities, built around the exploration of Caribbean and West African folklore and mythological traditions. The project intends to train an individual in a range of oral history, media, and archival skills to preserve a series of at-risk folk-stories and ultimately offer train-the-trainer sessions to support future storytelling and preservation. 

Decision: Reject

Bell House Print Room and Bindery

Applicant: Bell House Dulwich

Project description: To restore the Bell House Print Room into a space to practise the heritage craft of traditional printing and wider Book Arts (etching, fabric printing, woodcuts), to support the engendered craft, document its history, and increase inclusion and participation. The funds will be used for the purchasing new equipment, building renovation, radiator and furniture repair, volunteer training, and event planning/delivery. 

Decision: Award grant of £23,500

Female Pioneers of Dancehall

Applicant: New Future Collective Ltd

Project description: To collect, archive and preserve material and heritage covering the history of female dancehall and reggae pioneers from the 1980s and 1990s, to be exhibited alongside a touring theatre production Lorna Gee, a UK dancehall artist. The material will be crowdsourced from the community itself, and aims to cover professional and amateur photographs, memorabilia, merchandise, records, artwork, and recordings of memories and oral histories. 

Decision: Award grant of £28,360

The Living Room: A Growing Archive of SCT at 60

Applicant: Spitalfields Crypt Trust

Project description: To celebrate and share the 60-year history of Spitalfields Crypt Trust, a community group providing support to lose struggling with homelessness and addiction. The project looks to develop internal heritage and digital skills by sharing the history of the Trust’s work with a range of digital outputs and an exhibition, while also creating a 1960s inspired community space from reclaimed materials.

Decision: Reject

Daisybank Heritage and Ecology Project

Applicant: Daisybank Community Interest Company

Project description: To purchase and conserve Daisybank, a plot of land within the Cotswold National Landscape (AONB). The project looks to protect and restore the lowland calcareous grassland, which is defined by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee as a priority habitat for conservation.  The organisation looks to lead on a programme of volunteer work party maintenance, interpretation, and community engagement with the ecology and landscape.

Decision: Award grant of £41,200

Routes through the Forest

Applicant: Children's Forest Ltd

Project description: The project intends to organize and expand their programme of forestry workshops, which teach and encourages communities to gather, prepare, germinate and grow tree seeds. This programme includes a range of activities, sessions and workshops, including ecology days with local communities, the production of handbooks and resources, short films on ancestral crafts, and eventually the creation of several new planting sites. 

Decision: Reject

Life on the Lea

Applicant: Looplabs

Project description: The project looks to collect and preserve the lived history and community heritage of the River Lea’s boat-dwelling communities, through oral history, heritage craft workshops and focused learnings. The programme will centre on the collection of oral histories, gathered by heritage trained volunteers from the community itself, and eventually featured as a touring exhibition. These stories will then be reinforced by a series of heritage craft-workshops, focusing on boat maintenance, canal art and sustainable living. 

Decision: Award grant of £65,250

Guiding Light, St Gerrans Spire and Tower restoration project

Applicant: St Gerrans Parochial Church Council

Project description:  To repair and maintain the 15th century spire and tower of the the Grade 1 listed St Gerrans, Portscatho. Alongside capital works, the project will work in collaboration with local heritage organisations to share the history of the church and its spire as part of a wider educational programme with the local community and schools. 

Decision: Award grant of £66,427

Londoni Memoris

Applicant: Knock The Door Down

Project description: The project aims to capture and share the story of Bangladeshi migrants to the UK and Whitechapel from the 1950s-70s, through oral histories, archival materials and film interviews. The programme looks to support local artists in producing works inspired by the stories, to be showcased alongside the stories themselves in an exhibition, and used to support a range of workshops and engagement activities with the local community and schools.

Decision: Award grant of £66,923

Selsey Pavilion Heritage Hub

Applicant: Selsey Pavilion Trust

Project description: To undertake a series of capital works to repair and rework the hall of the 1913 art-deco Selsey Pavillion cinema into a community heritage hub, and a versatile new space for community activities.

Decision: Award grant of £77,424

Emotional Gowns of Worth and Lucile

Applicant: Crucial Creative Arts

Project description: To undertake a wide-reaching research, training, and event programme built around the heritage and contributions of the 19th/20th Century fashion house Worth & Lucile. The project looks to use Worth & Lucile, alongside the history and legacy of Haute Couture, as a launching point for trainees and volunteers to take part in individual and group research on the firm, heritage crafts tied to the 19th century fashion industry, and a range of fashion events and shows inspired by the era and its history.

Decision: Reject

An Oral History of Black Pentecostal Church In Britain

Applicant: Black Stock Media

Project description: To collect and preserve material from the 70-year history of the Black Pentecostal movement in the UK, drawing from oral histories from the movement's founders, material and object collection, and family history events sharing community stories. After preservation and digitization, the material will be used drive a programme of events and activities including high teas, vintage parties and film screenings, wellbeing pop-up cafes, and a gospel concerts. The project looks to culminate in the production of a book, a documentary film and an exhibition to share interviews, archival footage, collected objects and images.  

Decision: Reject

CHECKPOINT: 30 Years of Border Crossings

Applicant: Border Crossings Company Limited

Project description: The project looks to mark and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the organisation by cataloguing and conserving material from its archives, with emphasis on digital preservation of performance recordings and films. The work will be carried out by a professional archivist, in collaboration with the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, and by recruiting new employed and volunteer personnel. The project output will be documented in a book. Furthermore, online resources will be created to enable the participations of students in a workshop, culminating in an event planned at Hoxton Hall – which will be documented and made accessible to the wider audience.

Decision: Award grant of £91,985

The Great Sephardi Chaflah (Celebration): A project of S.P.I.C.E. Sephardic. Pride. Inspiration. Culture. Education.

Applicant: Chazak Ltd

Project description: The project looks to engage local communities with Sephardic-Jewish heritage and culture through a programme of activities and workshops based around Chaflah, a traditional community cultural celebration for Sephardic Jews.  The project will celebrate three distinctive features of Chaflah celebrations: traditional dress, foods and music, by bringing them to local schools in a series of educational sessions, culminating in a community event incorporating all the sessions and schools. 

Decision: Reject

Shaadi Parampara: Preserving the Legacy of Indian Wedding Traditions in England

Applicant: Apna Virsa Organisation CIC

Project description: The project looks to explore and engage with the cross-generational heritage of Indian wedding traditions amongst the South East Asian communities in Slough. Volunteers will be trained in a range of heritage skills, including oral history collection and archiving, as they gather material for a programme of workshops and taster sessions covering traditional food and dress, music and song, customs and traditions, and where they intersect with modern life. The final collection being displayed at an exhibition in Slough Museum.

Decision: Award grant of £97,800

Voices for Pride: a young persons LGBTQ+ heritage project

Applicant: Y Services for Young People

Project description: To capture memories, oral histories and material from the LGBTQIA+ population around Portsmouth and South Hampshire, with a special emphasis on early Portsmouth Pride events. The project seeks to use these histories as the launching point for a programme of heritage and vocational skill development for local LGBTQIA+ youths, with all outputs from their research begin donated to Portsmouth Archive. 

Decision: Award grant of £114,568

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 150

Applicant: London Borough Of Croydon

Project description: To create an exhibition celebrating the life, works and legacy of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and his connection to Croydon, alongside the wider legacy of African music in the borough. This includes gathering a collection of oral histories from local musicians, engagement programmes to local schools, and a heritage maps tying Croydon to Coleridge-Taylor's story.

Decision: Award grant of £115,013

Sounds of the City: Celebrating 50 Years of Oxford Music

Applicant: Oxford City Council

Project description: To develop an exhibition and series of arts workshops celebrating Oxford's music scene over the past 50 years, gathering both oral histories and memorabilia, alongside more public programme of engagement with an emphasis on the city’s multicultural musical festivals and wider underrepresented audiences.

Decision: Reject

Warneford 200: Mental health through the ages

Applicant: Oxford Health Charity

Project description: To perform a wide-reaching series of engagement activities, and smaller capital works, to record and preserve the cultural heritage of the Grade II-listed Warneford Hospital during its transition to a graduate college. These include the collection of oral histories, outreach and school activities, research into the building's history and preservation of material, and a touring exhibition around local venues.

Decision: Award grant of £156,258

Common Past, Common Future: Greenham Common anniversary and legacy programme

Applicant: Corn Exchange (Newbury) Trust

Project description: To deliver a programme of on-site community engagement, including a launch event, a family heritage activity weekend with workshops, activities and performances, a temporary interpretative trail, tours and talks, and a public consultation on Greenham Common’s future. The project will conclude with a 3-night large-scale on-site event with projections interpreting Greenham Common’s heritage.

Decision: Reject

Kensal Green Cemetery: setting up a charity to own and operate the site into the future

Applicant: General Cemetery Company

Project description: To support the transition of the Grade 1-listed Kensal Green’s General Cemetery Company into a new charity able to operate and preserve the site. The project will fund a full survey of the site to prepare for for future works, legal support for the emerging charity, and small-scale capital works to improve infrastructure.

Decision: Reject

St. Sampson's Unlocked: The Roof Over Our Heads

Applicant: St. Sampson's Church, South Hill

Project description: To restore the church's ceiling and bells, create new heritage resources, and engage volunteers. Alongside restoration capital works, the project will develop learning materials catering audiences with different access needs, such as augmented reality and audio tours, and public events for visitors. A photograph record of the restoration work will be created as a permanent resource. Volunteers will be involved in the rehanging of the bells and in a subsequent research project on local history.

Decision: Award grant of £201,218

Justice and Change: A history of community organising and resistance at Brent Community Law Centre

Applicant: Metroland Culture Limited

Project description: To collect new oral histories and gather existing archival material and ephemera around the history of the Brent Community Law Centre. The project will collect 100 oral stories; a creative facilitator will work with 15 young people to explore contemporary and historical youth justice issues, and will work with the Asian Women's Resource Centre (AWRC) to explore material around women's safety. The outcome will be exhibited through talks with guest speakers, tours and public events including a launch of digital resources, booklets and 'zines'.

Decision: Award grant of £217,858

Urgent roof and ceiling repairs to the Lady Chapel and Chancel Roofs to preserve the heritage and improve community use

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Northam

Project description: To undertake urgent roof and ceiling repairs to the Grade I listed St Margaret's Church in Northam. Alongside capital works, the project will introduce/develop youth groups and encourage the use of the cafe and church for community groups. It will produce a self-guided Church Trail for visitors, commission an ecological survey to determine the current use of the church by protected species, and work with local wildlife experts to introduce bird and bat boxes in the churchyard, and replant trees in the churchyard.

Decision: Award grant of £236,487

We are Holyrood Heritage Project

Applicant: ZoieLogic Dance Theatre C.I.C.

Project description: To tell the story of the past and present of Holyrood through a series of community engagement activities. The residents' voices will be foregrounded, telling the area's rich multicultural identity to foster a renewed sense of community pride. This project has 9 strands – from community and archival research to workshops and performances, exhibitions and an annual festival. 

Decision: Award grant of £240,000

Probus Church: GRACE Project (Growth, Repair And Community Engagement)

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of Probus

Project description: To restore the roof of St Probus and St Grace Church, a Grade I listed building in Truro. Before the build stage, the applicant will appoint a firm of architects/ building surveys to project manage the contractors.

Decision: Reject

Coast Path Centre

Applicant: South West Coast Path Association

Project description: To create a new hub for the SWCPA, to make the organisation more accessible to volunteers, members and the public, and work on organisation capacity building. The project will fit out the office space and associated utilities, along with visitor facilities. A Community Engagement Manager will be recruited to develop a new volunteer strategy. A graduate researcher will develop ways of improving collection, storage and application of data. The project will include the delivery of community engagement activities, and the enhancement of the applicant’s digital archive. 

Decision: Reject

Donald Thomas Centre: restoring the pride in Camborne

Applicant: Create (Cornwall) CIC

Project description: To create economically and environmentally sustainable conditions for the contemporary art hub in the Donald Thomas Centre, Camborne, located in a heritage building. The project will include capital works to restore the exterior of the building and create an accessible area at the front. The applicant intends to work with the appointed contractor to provide heritage construction skills training placements to ex-offenders.

Decision: Award grant of £248,000

Streete Court (Bognor Regis) Heritage Preservation

Applicant: SCBR MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Project description: To carry out conservation works to the housing complex of Streete Court, and explore and share Streete Courts’ Victorian architecture, naval and military connections and social histories of former residents. It will involve a programme of conservation capital works, the installation of blue plaques and a WWI memorial, community open days, garden guided tours and collaborative events with nearby St Wilfird’s Church. A computer will be purchased to develop a website as a digital archive for historical documents and testimonies. 

Decision: Reject

Heritage 160 at St. Mary's, Sholing: securing our stories of the past for the future

Applicant: St. Mary's Sholing Parochial Church Council

Project description: To enhance access, improve facilities, highlight the church’s local historical significance, and protect its structure for the future, with an 18-month project intended as the first of three phases of works. It will involve capital works (replacement of the heating system and the creation of an accessible WC and kitchenette area), heritage community engagement events such as a series of talks, and the installation of interactive learning boards. Ongoing historical research will be carried out by a historian and a team of volunteers; research outputs will be shared with local historical societies.

Decision: Award grant of £248,874

Heritage Alliance: Creating Connections (Resilience Grant)

Applicant: The Heritage Alliance

Project description: To enhance the heritage sector's resilience through three interconnected strands, designed to address challenges facing heritage organisations across England. The first strand explores best practices to promote partnerships between heritage organisations and academia across England. The second strand will work with a UX design agency to enhance accessibility and usability of THA’s signposting and sector-wide resources. The third strand will include a review of THA’s current CRM system, with either upgrades or the implementation of a new system, to automate workflows and gather better data. The project also intends to enhance THA’s organisational sustainability. 

Decision: Award grant of £249,506

Remembering Cherry: Brixton's Culture of Resistance

Applicant: Cherry Groce Foundation

Project description: To preserve the untold stories of resistance of Brixton’s Black community. The project, delivered in partnership with Black Cultural Archive (BCA), will produce a festival, a podcast, a memorial lecture series, an animated short film, an exhibition, and the development of accessible learning materials. Additionally, it will deliver a second Black History Month series in October 2026. 

Decision: Reject

House of Grey Art Gallery and Community Space

Applicant: House of Grey LTD

Project description: To restore and transform a neglected Victorian building on Hornsey Road, North London to create a new community space, in a 9-month project. Once repaired and converted, it will host community exhibitions, workshops, and events for local community, artists and creatives. 

Decision: Reject  

Faces of Harrow

Applicant: Learning Through The Arts CIC

Project description: To celebrate the borough’s 60th anniversary by exploring a collection of 'old and new' individuals connected with Harrow, that have shaped the town and Britain at large. It will feature an exhibition, craft workshops for children and a poetry workshop for adults. The outcomes of the latter will be featured in a booklet to be distributed within the local community. 

Decision: Reject  

Replacement of the temporary rubber roof with a steel roof on St James' Church, Bratton

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of St James' Church, Bratton

Project description: A 2-month capital works project, to address replacement of a temporary EPDM synthetic rubber roofing membrane, with a permanent Terne-Costed Stainless Steel (TCSS) roof. 

Decision: Reject  

Creative Hands: Preserving Hair Heritage Through Culture and Style

Applicant: Believers Faith Hostel CIC

Project description: An 8-week project to provide a hairdressing training course on hairstyling traditions within African, Caribbean, and ethnically diverse communities – acknowledged as heritage at risk. It will involve 7 participants from vulnerable backgrounds and culminate in a final celebration.

Decision: Reject  

When Cultures Collide

Applicant: Nova Companion's CIC

Project description: To produce a family fun day featuring traditional Nigerian and Caribbean music and dance performances, games that celebrate both cultures, a food market showcasing traditional food, and general entertainment. The project involves venue selection, promotion, engaging with experts and putting on the day itself.

Decision: Reject  

Ladock Church Bells Restoration Project

Applicant: PCC of Ladock - Bell Ringers

Project description: To restore and repair the bells and belfry of the church. The project will also involve the public display of the bells, and the active recruitment of more ringers to grow and maintain the ringing team.

Decision: Reject  

Telling the story of Walsingham Shrine to newcomers to the UK

Applicant: The Families Support Group

Project description: To explore the history of Walsingham Shrine. The project will deliver workshops, conferences, guided visits and a community exhibition documenting the project outcomes, targeted to the community of African French and Lingala speaking families in London. 

Decision: Reject  

The Somaliland Poetry Week

Applicant: West London Somaliland Community

Project description: A seven-day festival of the oral heritage and poetic traditions of Somaliland, including live performances from poets travelling from Hargeisa, thematic workshops, youth-led digital storytelling, a family celebration day and a closing showcase. 

Decision: Reject  

Brandiers Ancient Farm and Roman Technology Centre

Applicant: Peter Lavery

Project description: To transform a private owned land dig site into a heritage site preserving the archaeological discoveries and celebrating the local history. The project will involve the construction of a temporary covering to preserve the excavation work, the conversion of an on-site Dutch Barn into a multi-purpose cultural space for community engagement activities, and the construction of new infrastructures inspired by the buildings of Iron Age Britain. 

Decision: Reject  

St. Just Ordinalia

Applicant: St Just and District Trust CIO

Project description: To produce an extensive series of events to enact the Ordinalia plays at Plen an Gwari, the oldest working outdoor theatre in Britain, located in St. Just, Cornwall. The output will include the production of a festival, an archive exhibition, a cataloguing system, an immersive sound trail, a 30-minute documentary film and 1-year programme of community engagement activities.

Decision: Reject  

Wheel of Heritage

Applicant: Divine Buzz CIC

Project description: To explore traditional African dance and music, and share it with the next generation of the diaspora community. The project will be based on delivering in-person and online music and dance tuitions, and sharing contents on social media. It will hire music professionals and safeguarding staff, and acquire traditional musical instruments and costumes. It will also host annual exhibitions and performances.

Decision: Reject  

Towards opening Paradiso Arts: conserving the King of Prussia and its site

Applicant: Bovey Tracey Paradiso Arts Ltd

Project description:  A 6-month project to restore the passageway/main entrance to a Grade II listed former pub building and fit out the applicant’s newly constructed adjacent auditorium, with a view of opening an arts centre in the building complex. Upon completion of the capital works, a programme of public events about history will take place.

Decision: Reject  

The Making of Black Britain Oral History Foundation Project

Applicant: The Making of Black Britain CIC

Project description:  To collect up to 50 oral histories from elder Black Britons and early Commonwealth migrants whose stories could be lost if not documented before they pass away, to add a wider online archive. The project will feature the contribution of Prof. Philip Murphy (UCL). It will also involve training staff on Mental Health First Aid, to preserve the participants’ wellbeing, audiovisual postproduction, an editorial plan for the promotion and distribution of the material, and a launch event. 

Decision: Reject

Increases, Rejects and Changes

Courting Opinion: Repositioning the Shire Hall

Applicant: Shire Hall (Dorchester) Trust

Project description: To prepare Shire Hall Museum for an economically viable future and focus on the needs of visitors and the community. To undertake visitor research, produce a new business plan, create a marketing and PR plan, upgrade the website, and expand the community engagement offer.

Decision: Agree change in approved purposes

Nature Buddies Network

Applicant: Dorset National Landscape Partnership c/o Dorset Council

Project description: To support and coordinate the growth of a network of trained volunteer Nature Buddies, to embed into existing heritage and health organisations, to provide personalised support to overcome barriers faced engaging with heritage and to help heritage thrive and be more resilient.

Decision: Agree change in grant percentage from 65% to 69%

A Monumental Improvement: Cornwall through 4,000 years

Applicant: Cornwall AONB Unit

Project description: The project would remove 25 Monuments from the Heritage at Risk Register, improve access to 40 sites, and delivery of over 250 activities. It would train 200 volunteers, support wellbeing, enhance wildlife habitats, and create new jobs and apprenticeships.

Decision: Agree change in payment percentage from 65% to 68%