England, Midlands & East: delegated decisions September 2023

England, Midlands & East: delegated decisions September 2023

Schedule of Decisions under delegated powers for England, Midlands & East at The National Lottery Heritage Fund in September 2023.

Grant increases

20 September 2023

Save the White Lion

Applicant: Pailton Parish Council 

Decision: Award grant increase of £17,000 to make a total grant of £87,450 (73.49%)

25 September 2023

HERITAGE ENTERPRISE Saving the Iron Duke

Applicant: Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust

Decision: Award grant increase of £123,752 to make a total grant of £293,356 (72.7%)

National Lottery Grants for Heritage

25 September 2023

Cromford Mills: innovation and sustainability for a brighter future

Applicant: The Arkwright Society Limited

Project description: This project will support the sustainability and resilience of Cromford Mills, Derbyshire, by carrying out urgent repairs to the Grade I listed Mill buildings and implementing business operational improvements.

Decision: Award grant of £249,879 (98%)

28 September 2023

Laying the foundations for the transformation of Birmingham Museums Trust

Applicant: Birmingham Museums Trust

Project description: This project will carry out a change to the organisation and culture to increase resilience. It hopes to lay foundations for them to become a resilient and financially sustainable organisation.

Decision: Award grant of £249,836 (79%)

Queens of Walsall

Applicant: LGK IN THE COMMUNITY

Project description: This project will collect the oral histories of migrant women in Walsall and develop a pilot e-learning cookery programme.

Decision: Reject

NEW FLOOR, New beginning

Applicant: Church and Chetwynd Aston Institute Village Hall

Project description: This project is to refurbish the sprung wooden floor of the village hall for community activities.

Decision: Reject

Preserving Diwali Light Switch On (PDLSO)

Applicant: Inspirate

Project description: This project will explore the development of Leicester's Diwali Lights Switch On over 40 years. The project will engage with event founders and workers, alongside local communities to create a range of materials that tell the story of how the event rose to prominence.

Decision: Award grant of £68,691 (94%)

Black Heritage Project

Applicant: Antoin Akpom Achievements Foundation

Project description: This project will deliver workshops, activities and visits to to London’s Docklands Museum for young people at risk, in collaboration with Leicestershire Police, to take them back to the Windrush era and give them reasoning as to why their ancestors risked so much to enable their families to lead a better life.

Decision: Award grant of £9,820 (100%)

Thorndike Way Greenspaces Nature Connections Project

Applicant: Urban Challenge Limited

Project description: This project will regenerate the habitat and biodiversity of greenspaces along and around the Thorndike dual carriageway into Gainsborough, together with volunteer training, skills development and interpretation.

Decision: Award grant of £70,134 (100%)

Modernisation & Environmental Improvement Works Including The Creation Of A New Community Café.

Applicant: Wolvey Village Hall Foundation

Project description: This project will provide new doors, windows and insulation to restore and modernise Wolvey Village Hall.

Decision: Reject

Restoration of roof, doorway and window stonework.

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of St Peter and St Paul's Church, Kedington

Project description: This project will restore stonework to ensure the window, door and roof remain sound and energy efficient.

Decision: Reject

Blood. sweat and tears of the first generation of Brummie Mirpuri's

Applicant: Midlands Community Solutions CIC

Project description: This project will collect and share the oral histories of Brummie Mirpuris from the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan, who have migrated to Birmingham since the 1920s and whose stories have not been collected meaningfully to date.

Decision: Award grant of £49,380 (100%)

Stained glass windows and tower

Applicant: Bradwell Parochial Church Council

Project description: This project will repair and retore some of the church’s stained glass windows and support the tower with repointing and steelwork.

Decision: Reject

Gutter Repair to the South Wall

Applicant: Normanton On Le Heath PCC

Project description: This project in Normanton le Heath, Leicestershire, will repair damaged guttering on a rural church building, The Church of the Holy Trinity, replacing lead lined gutters with stainless steel.

Decision: Reject

Marefair Heritage Park & Gateway: Reconnecting Histories and Communities

Applicant: West Northamptonshire Council

Project description: This project will create a Heritage Park within the former Northampton Castle grounds which will stretch from the current Chalk Lane car park to the Spring Borough's residential area. New build totem poles will interpret the castle walls. 

Decision: Reject

Strawberry Hill - Feasibility Study

Applicant: The Wildlife Trust For Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire And Northamptonshire

Project description: This resilient heritage project will undertake surveys and scoping work to establish a vision for the conservation and management of the Strawberry Hill former arable farm. The work will inform the development of proposals for public access and engagement, with the longer term aim of purchasing the farm to create a financially sustainable visitor hub. 

Decision: Reject

The Sound of Filby's Bells

Applicant: Filby Bells Restoration

Project description: This project will carry out repairs to the tower of All Saints Church, Filby, Norfolk, alongside improvements to the building entrance and construction of a ringing gallery. 

Decision: Reject

Shropshire's 3 S Programme: Systems Strengthened; People Skilled; Nature Secured (S3SP)

Applicant: Shropshire Wildlife Trust

Project description: This project will allow Shropshire Wildlife Trust to upskill staff members in the use of new IT systems, maximising staff output and supporting the retainment of skills within the organisation. Additional work will be carried out to provide scope for the development of new income streams which will support long-term resilience.

Decision: Reject

From Jamaica to Lincolnshire and the 'Mother Country'.

Applicant: Cultural Solutions UK

Project description: This partnership project will offer an insight into the cultural, economic and spiritual contribution of several generations of Lincolnshire-based, British Caribbean communities to the UK. The project educates young people, building awareness of historical facts and deepens understanding about those Caribbeans that came before as well as after Windrush. 

Decision: Award grant of £9,900 (100%)

Feeding The Troops in Wartime

Applicant: Essex Historic Military Vehicle Association

Project description: This project will take place across Essex. It aims to purchase military vehicles and create a travelling display about feeding troops in wartime.

Decision: Reject

Linnets In The Community

Applicant: Linnets In The Community

Project description: This project will involve elderly local residents and those with mental health issues in community visits to heritage sites in and around Kings Lynn, to increase knowledge, social skills and wellbeing.

Decision: Award grant of £9,530 (100%)

Arts and Archives for All: Sharing the Duchy of Lancaster's Medieval Past

Applicant: University of Lincoln Higher Education Corporation

Project description: This cross territory project involves an ambitious and wide-ranging activity plan to engage a wide range of people with the shared medieval heritage of Lancashire and Lincolnshire documented in the Duchy of Lancaster's private deposits at The National Archives.

Decision: Reject

Congolese Twin's Birth and Naming Ceremony.

Applicant: V12 OCEAN CIC.

Project description: This project seeks to record the cultural heritage and traditions of Congolese post-natal celebrations, especially the birth and naming ceremony of twins, and share these traditions with young people with Congolese heritage or who may have an interest in learning more about the culture.

Decision: Reject

All Saints Live Launch Event

Applicant: Midwest Records Community Interest Company

Project description: This project will host a multi-genre music event at the Parish Church. The event will be a showcase of local musicians and allow the development of the church as a music venue that attracts a more diverse range of musicians and in extension their fanbase.

Decision: Reject

Mapping the Future - exploring and recording heritage at risk of loss due to climate change

Applicant: Wise Ram Theatre CIC

Project description: A collaboration between UCL culture programmes and Wise Ram Theatre, to pilot delivery of an environmentally sustainable touring theatre production that aims to improve mental wellbeing and alleviate climate anxiety.

Decision: Reject

Fairycroft House Magical Heritage Tour

Applicant: The Fairycroft House Community Interest Company

Project description: This project will create a heritage trail at Fairycroft House, a Georgian Manor House in Essex with a varied history as a wartime air raid post, community centre and legendary live entertainment venue.

Decision: Award grant of £9,800 (100%)

Let's Make History!

Applicant: Spinning Wheel Ltd

Project description: Tol deliver a touring play and workshops on Anglo Saxon life across schools and community venues in east Anglia.

Decision: Award grant of £55,521 (92%)

Made In Luton

Applicant: Luton Borough Council

Project description: This project will collect oral histories and documents about the Vauxhall automotive works in the town, open an exhibition and provide a series of free visits to heritage sites for schools and older people to gather feedback on effective engagement strategies.

Decision: Award grant of £189,081 (97%)

Art UK Murals Digitisation and Engagement Programme

Applicant: The Public Catalogue Foundation

Project description: Tp will create an extensive digital database of public murals from across the UK and deliver a wide-reaching engagement programme that will support arts education.

Decision: Award grant of £250,000 (67%)

Heritage to Inspire

Applicant: Friends of Shrewsbury Cemeteries

Project description: This partnership project aims to implement nature improvements, skills training and community engagement for Longden Road Cemetery, Shrewsbury.

Decision: Award grant of £145,625 (100%)

Lavina's Legacy, skills from the past for the future

Applicant: Celtic Harmony

Project description: This project in Hertford will run a volunteer and trainee programme in education, heritage and conservation skills at a longstanding living history site.

Decision: Award grant of £99,788 (100%)

The Tavern in the Town

Applicant: Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists

Project description: To will commemorate and celebrate the rich heritage of The Tavern in the Town, which was a legendary rock/bikers pub right in the heart of Wolverhampton. 

Decision: Award grant of £9,944 (100%)

'Moor for Swine': Moccas' Hidden Heritage

Applicant: Moccas’ Parochial Church Council

Project description: This project will use a new digital interpretation format to engage visitors with the history of this Grade I Listed Herefordshire church.

Decision: Award grant of £10,000 (100%)

Dacorum Heritage 30:30 - reflecting our 30th anniversary and looking 30 years into the future.

Applicant: The Dacorum Heritage Trust Limited

Project description: This project will examine Dacorum Heritage's current stakeholders, collections and heritage offer, and identify needs and opportunities to inform future activities and development.

Decision: Award grant of £91,000 (100%)

Past meets present in a historic market town

Applicant: Ross-on-Wye Town Council

Project description: This project consists of a second phase of capital works to restore the Grade II* Market House, with interpretation and a public exhibition to engage the local community and tourists. The Ross-on-Wye Town Council also seeks to celebrate their native hedgehog population through the creation of a hedgehog hub to explore the animal's association with the town and provide educational resources.

Decision: Award grant of £112,780 (36%)

1824-2024 Ipswich Institute 200th Anniversary Community Project

Applicant: Ipswich Institute Reading Room and Library

Project description: To mark the 200th anniversary with a programme of free events and activities that will take place throughout 2024 aimed at the wider community in Ipswich. These events and activities will explore the heritage of Ipswich, the creative arts, the history of the Ipswich Institute and more.

Decision: Award grant of £5,980 (100%)