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

The Forgotten Dead

Applicant: Blueprint Arts Foundation CIC

Project description: To create an immersive, multidisciplinary arts experience to reflect Gravesend’s maritime history and engage with the community. To commemorate the tragedy of the crash and subsequent sinking of The Princess Alice, and its historical significance. To foster an appreciation of local heritage, support artistic expression and preserve and share the stories the voices of Gravesend's past. 

Decision: Award grant of £16,990 (39%)

Kara Hellys (Love Helston) – People and Places

Applicant: Music and Dance Education Trust

Project description: To reveal some of the invisible cultural heritage stories linked to the Heritage Trail of Helston Town. To educate and inform children and adults about lesser-known stories through a Schools Programme, Gwariers (Community Adults) Programme, and the Kara Hellys Travelling Trail, an interactive promenade around the town.

Decision: Award grant of £26,563 (87%)

The Most Tiresome Place in the World: Jane Austen and Bath

Applicant: Bath Preservation Trust Limited

Project description: To explore the complicated relationship Jane Austen had with Bath. To look through a different lens and explore why Austen disliked the city that is now an indivisible part of the Austen 'brand'. To reveal the highs and lows of Austen's time in the city and create a legacy of looking beyond the comfortable costume dramas to see how turbulence and loss cast a long shadow over Austen and Bath.

Decision: Award grant of £29,597 (83%)

Tales of Hilldrop Crescent

Applicant: Cut Moose

Project description: An oral history project to culminate in a podcast and a verbatim multimedia performance based on the tragic murder of Cora Henrietta Crippen. To counterbalance past perceptions and showcase the strength and resilience of the local community. To explore the area’s history and heritage, as well as the dynamic and active community of today.

Decision: Reject

Different Breed – A History of Veterinary Medicine

Applicant: Different Breed Partnership

Project description: To preserve and disseminate the history of veterinary practices in London during the 1970s. To collate and record oral histories, photos, video footage, written literature and stories related to this period and to highlight developments in veterinary care for domestic and wild animals, set against the backdrop of popular culture and the evolving conceptions of animal care and conservation.

Decision: Reject

Garba – The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Applicant: Subrang Arts

Project description: To offer an immersive hands-on journey through Gujarat's most cherished craft traditions associated with Garba through a training programme. To nurture creativity, celebrate heritage, inspire and leave a lasting legacy. 

Decision: Award grant of £33,960 (99%)

Library Heritage Project (working title)

Applicant: Pākiki Theatre C.I.C

Project description: To create of a dynamic, interactive show for children that communicates and celebrates the heritage and legacy of libraries.

Decision: Reject

"Thomas Hardy's Smugglers Church"

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of Owermoigne

Project description: To create a hospitality and display area in St Michael's Church Owermoigne. To focus on the church's connection with the writing of Thomas Hardy and his novella, The Distracted Preacher which is about smuggling in the 1830s, is set in the village and church and is based on historical events.

Decision: Reject

The Lighthouse-keepers. The title captures the essence of the project: it memorialises the lighthouse itself, and the individuals connected to it but also serves the focus of the new maritime centre whose aim is to keep the lighthouse alive.

Applicant: Living Communities CIC

Project description: To highlight, memorialise and contextualise the relationship, past and present, between Bexhill community members and the sea which forms the coastline of the town. To focus on the former lighthouse, which is to be re-instated at a new maritime coastal environment centre in 2025 with a series of activities and workshops to create a multi-disciplinary and intergenerational arts exhibition. 

Decision: Reject

Church Vestry Roof Repairs

Applicant: Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Saint John with St Andrew, Chelsea

Project description: To repair and maintain the fabric of the church and to keep the building open to welcome and serve the local community. The legacy is for the buildings, gardens and activities to be attractive, accessible and valued as an important part of local life.

Decision: Reject

Transforming St Peter De Beauvoir: a hub of warmth, welcome and creativity in the community.

Applicant: THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST PETER, DE BEAUVOIR TOWN

Project description: To ensure the sustainability of St Peter’s as a warm, welcoming and vibrant cultural and community hub. To build on a long history of welcome for people from diverse backgrounds, respond to demand and to use the church for community, heritage, educational and cultural events. 

Decision: Award grant of £82,432 (89%)

Building Communities

Applicant: QueenSpark Books Ltd

Project description: To engage new communities to explore the heritage of their built environment and enable better local involvement in current and future decisions around changes to, and uses of, heritage architecture.

Decision: Reject

Roots and Reflections. This was chosen as the title to inspire both younger and older generations alike, while reflecting the project's goal of capturing the rich tapestry of community heritage and social history.

Applicant: Gloucestershire County Council

Project description: To empower communities of Gloucestershire through storytelling, to celebrate cultural traditions and create a legacy of oral history recordings. To involve intergenerational collaboration to bring together residents aged 60 plus and 11 to 18-year-olds, to produce creative works to share within their own communities to develop a deeper understanding and connection between generations.

Decision: Award grant of £94,769 (100%)

Forgotten Testaments

Applicant: Luminescent CIC

Project description: To create oral history and visual arts records of memories and stories of refugees to East Kent 2010–2023 including the experiences of Kent communities receiving them. To generate understanding and pride locally, particularly with young people.

Decision: Reject

Enfield African Heritage Food

Applicant: Diversity Rights

Project description: To focus and protect traditional African dishes recognised by UNESCO, including Thieboudienne, Nsima, Attiéké, and Couscous. To collect and share family stories and personal experiences about food, culture and identity. To make this heritage accessible to all and to support Enfield’s African communities to record their food traditions, weave these cultures into the UK’s wider heritage and encourage appreciation across generations.

Decision: Award grant of £115,453 (100%)

Water Guardians or the Cotswolds Rivers Trust's Water Guardian programme

Applicant: Cotswolds Rivers Trust

Project description: To mobilise and connect communities to foster and share responsibility for our rivers. To build on the public's concern for the waterways and to channel this enthusiasm into action. To recruit volunteers and citizen scientists and grow community groups, to empower individuals and groups to monitor, protect and restore their local rivers through education, hands-on activities and utilising scientific tools.

Decision: Reject

Together Two Metres Apart

Applicant: end2end TV CIC

Project description: To take a careful and considered look at four aspects of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. To research the impact on education, the social impact on family and friends, on the climate and the environment during and after lockdowns. To learn more about various Grade II listed historic cinema buildings where the project's digital outcomes are to be screened and to create a 'living history' in an online interactive museum.

Decision: Reject

Global Lullabies: Voices of Heritage

Applicant: Cultural Awareness Group CIC

Project description: To conserves the lullabies of different UK communities to ensure they last despite globalisation, digital uniformity, migration, displacement and cultural changes. To guarantee the melodies and rituals are kept alive for future generations through a digital archive, oral history recordings, live performances and educational resources.

Decision: Reject

Re-Jenner-ation – Regenerating Dr Jenner's House Phase 1

Applicant: The Jenner Trust

Project description: To host the international celebration of the 50th anniversary of the World Health Organisation declaration of the eradication of smallpox, 8 May 2030. To restore the world’s first ever vaccination clinic.

Decision: Award grant of £221,509 (99%)

The Book Liberator

Applicant: The Big House Theatre Company

Project description: To build on The Big Up project to deepen the connection between care-experienced young people and heritage. To continue Ras Seymour’s mission to foster belonging and help members connect with their cultural identity, to develop skills in oral history and archiving and introduce them to new communities to learn about their heritage.

Decision: Reject

Steart: Connecting Coastal Communities

Applicant: The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust

Project description: To create accessible experiences for people that nurture a deeper connection and understanding of wetlands. To tailor an engagement programme to increase understanding of positive coastal change and enhance Somerset’s natural and cultural heritage. To focus on young people and local communities, to build stronger connections with wetlands to showcase a positive, resilient future where communities thrive in a changing landscape.

Decision: Award Grant of £237,312 (90%)

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: Award Grant of £244,960 (100%)

Safer Shores for Species – Protecting the East Atlantic Flyway

Applicant: Kent Wildlife Trust

Project description: To address the range of pressures which face three linked sites: Sandwich & Pegwell Bay, South Swale and Oare. To lead mitigation works on the sites, apply proven approaches to ensure improved conditions for wildlife and to align this work with a range of engagement activities to increase visitor diversity and encourage repeat visits. 

Decision: Reject

Crofton Roman Villa, London – Interpreting a Romano-British Farm

Applicant: The London Borough of Bromley

Project description: To tell the whole story of the only open Roman villa site in Greater London, from its origins as an Iron Age hut dwelling, to a Romano-British farmstead, and on to the building of a 20-room villa at the centre of a 500-acre estate and its decline in the last days of the Roman Empire. To increase people’s connection with the heritage, design and produce new interpretation across the Crofton Roman Villa building and tell the story of the villa, Romano-British life in Bromley, and the villa’s rediscovery in the 20th century.

Decision: Award Grant of £249,150 (100%)

Communities at the River: The Fetcham Springs archaeology project

Applicant: Surrey County Archaeological Unit

Project description: To expand the understanding of the site over five years and engage the local community with their heritage. To supervise volunteers to explore the extent and significance of the remains, develop new skills and connect with others in the area. To integrate archaeology and nature conservation and safeguard cultural and natural heritage sustainably.

Decision: Award Grant of £249,824 (98%)

Restoring Nature: Preparing for the Future

Applicant: Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Limited

Project description: To lay foundations to influence land managers across the county, strengthen the Trust’s own baseline data for its reserves to inform a best practice approach to adaptive management and integrate natural processes for climate resilience. To create a learning hub for nature-friendly farming and green finance to engage farmer clusters across and beyond Wiltshire and support skills development in the conservation and farming sectors. 

Decision: Award Grant of £249,949 (100%)

The AHF: 50 Years of Transforming Heritage

Applicant: Architectural Heritage Fund (The)

Project description: To capitalise on the 50th anniversary and put the organisation on a forward-looking footing for the next 50 years. The goals are to broaden public awareness of the organisation’s work, increase regular and legacy giving, raise £2million into the AHF’s endowment and build a programme of major gift philanthropy.

Decision: Award Grant of £249,999 (86%)

West Window Restoration and Protecting the Environment

Applicant: St Swithun's, Bournemouth

Project description: To carry out works to the St Swithun’s Church building. To carry out window repairs and install a new air source heat pump system to protect the building for the future. To explore the church’s heritage in greater detail to make it more widely known and accessible to visitors and teach people about the importance of environmental sustainability.

Decision: Award Grant of £250,000 (89%)

Cultural Impact Award – Light and Flight

Applicant: London Borough of Barnet

Project description: A year-long programme of artistic and heritage projects, inviting communities and residents to capture and celebrate the uniqueness of Barnet. To draw on the borough’s links to early aviation and film and make it a place where innovation and heritage intertwine to create a vibrant community of pioneers.

Decision: Award Grant of £250,000 (100%)

Wildlife Garden

Applicant: TPS Parents Association

Project description: To improve the outdoor wildlife garden and donations to help bridge the gap so children have access to environments that foster creativity, teamwork and healthy lifestyles. To use the funds to maintain and improve the spaces and to ensure safety and long-term accessibility. To support outdoor provisions for children for their overall growth and future wellbeing.

Decision: Reject

Beautifully Spoken

Applicant: Beautifully Chosen CIC

Project description: To amplify the voices and stories of women from Black, Asian and faith-based communities, to create a safe space for self-expression, healing and growth. To use storytelling, spoken word and creative workshops to explore themes of identity, resilience and wellbeing and to break down barriers around mental health and personal struggles. To equip women with tools for self-expression, confidence and personal empowerment, to build a strong, supportive community where their voices are heard and valued.

Decision: Reject

City of Stories

Applicant: BEYOND LONELINESS COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

Project description: To create an interactive trail that explores local history to tackle loneliness among young adults. To use the Wundr app to help develop a journey through poems, soundscapes and artworks inspired by the area’s overlooked stories, from everyday life to cultural shifts and moments of resistance.

Decision: Reject

Bishopstone Station gardeners disused platform garden project

Applicant: Friends Of Bishopstone Station CIC

Project description: To clear and create a seaside dry garden for the benefit of train passengers, the community garden team and community involvement in general. 

Decision: Reject

The ASO-EBI Cultural Festival™

Applicant: The New Pan-African Movement CIC

Project description: A year-long initiative to celebrate and preserve the intangible cultural heritage of African and Caribbean communities. To engage millennials and Gen Z through 12 interactive workshops focusing on traditional crafts, music, dance, oral storytelling and the symbolic customs of Aso-Ebi – a tradition to celebrate community identity and pride. 

Decision: Reject

Lanfranc Air Disaster Memorial Garden

Applicant: The Bec Trust

Project description: To repair and restore the memorial garden in Croydon, commemorating the 34 pupils and two teachers from the Lanfranc School who died in August 1961 when the plane they were travelling in crashed in Norway. 

Decision: Reject

CATUFA CULTURAL BRIDGE

Applicant: CATUFA UK CIC

Project description: To commemorate 200 years of cultural exchange between Colombia and the UK. To celebrate the shared history and achievements of the UK and Colombia, promote cultural diversity through artistic, musical and gastronomic events and foster community participation. 

Decision: Reject

Renovation and restoration of an historic heritage fence 130 yrs old 145 metres length. Baxter's Field Lewes East Sussex

Applicant: The Baxters Field Company

Project description: To renovate and restore the 114-year-old railings which were made at the historic Lewes Phoenix Foundry owned by several generations of the Every family. 

Decision: Reject

40 Years of Hope: Honouring the Past, Building the Future

Applicant: The Nelson Trust

Project description: To uncover, document, celebrate and preserve the Trust’s history to give a platform to people connected to our services. To commemorate people’s recovery, strengths and resilience, as well as the innovation of the Trust’s services and its impact. To reduce the stigma associated with addiction, mental ill health, homelessness and the multiple disadvantages women in the criminal justice system often face. To preserve the Trust’s rich history of support services for future generations.

Decision: Reject

Willesden Immigrants Trail

Applicant: Shared City CIC

Project description: To commemorate the immigration journeys and contribution of individuals and communities from China, Ireland, the West Indies and South Asia over the last century and to counter negative narratives around immigration. To collate information and share through talks, walks, pop-up exhibitions, a website and a walking trail accessed through QR codes at relevant locations, to make the community immigration stories easily available to local people and to communities across the world.

Decision: Reject

Hwedhlow ha Hensyow | Stories and Pathways – Revealing Cornwall's intangible cultural heritage stories and transforming access to heritage through community connection.

Applicant: Lowender

Project description: To amplify community voices and place Cornwall's distinctive intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in the UK’s rich cultural tapestry. To raise the profile of Cornwall’s ICH, to foster pride in place and connect it to broader cultural narratives. To establish a digital information hub. 

Decision: Reject

Lewannick Church and Tower Community Hub 24 (CATCH 24)

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of Lewannick and North Hill

Project description: To repair the church tower which is on the Historic England register of buildings at risk. To continue to use to the church as a hub and community café.

Decision: Reject

"Restoring Alpha Grove: Preserving Local Heritage, Empowering Community Futures"

Applicant: Alpha Grove Centre

Project description: To restore and transform the historic Grade II listed building into a vibrant, accessible and sustainable hub that honours its heritage and meets the evolving needs of the local community.

Decision: Reject

Grant increase

Kent Mining Museum

Applicant: Kent Mining Heritage Foundation

Project description: To celebrate and preserve Kent’s coal mining heritage, to tell the stories of the coal mining community, the impact of mining and its demise.

Decision: Award grant increase of £118,415 to make a total grant of £1,873,415 (82%)

Grant Decrease

Hendrix at Home and Work: the Trixie Sullivan Archive

Applicant: The Handel House Trust Ltd

Project description: To collect Jimi Hendrix heritage and save this heritage to inspire more people. To acquire items from the archive, catalogue the new holdings and make them accessible through digitisation. The collection is to be at the centre of a new permanent exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of Hendrix's death, in 2030.

Decision: Reduce the grant award from £222,320 (94%) to £145,954 (91%)