England, North: delegated decisions June 2025
Grant increase
Reuniting the Portico Library, Uniting People
Applicant: The Portico Library and Newsroom
Project description: To transform Portico Library into an accessible, sustainable and dynamic arts, learning and heritage hub for Manchester’s residents and visitors.
Decision: Award grant increase of £67,474 to make a total grant of £521,438 and agree change in grant percentage from 66% to 68%
National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000
50 years of The Whitechapel Centre – ending homelessness for people in Liverpool
Applicant: The Whitechapel Centre
Project description: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Whitechapel Centre with a range of engagement activities culminating in an exhibition in Liverpool.
Decision: Award grant of £30,700 (100%)
The Settle to Carlisle Railway Heritage Programme
Applicant: The Neighbourhood Project CIC
Project description: To hold a talk on the history of the Settle and Carlisle railway line, followed by hosting a series of 21 ‘memory banks’ events alongside undertaking secondary research to inform the creation of 23 short informational videos.
Decision: Award grant of £15,200 (100%)
Rugby Boots and Mining Roots
Applicant: Featherstone Rovers Foundation
Project description: To care for the organisation’s collection, including having the equipment to properly store and display its heritage, capture oral history stories and collect objects of significance.
Decision: Award grant of £77,999 (96%)
Defining a Decade: A 10-year masterplan for Sheffield Museums
Applicant: Sheffield Museums Trust
Project description: To create a 10-year holistic organisational and estate masterplan, realistic delivery plans, a five-year business plan and training opportunities for the Museum Trust team.
Decision: Award grant of £206,500 (86%)
Gorse Hill Studios: A Celebration of Creativity and Young People
Applicant: Gorse Hill Studios Creative Community
Project description: To encourage young people to participate in creating a record of the history and the community of Gorse Hill studios through cataloguing and indexing a digital archive of its creative art outputs.
Decision: Award grant of £58,764 (100%)
Westfield War Memorial Village Centenary: A History In Pictures
Applicant: Westfield War Memorial Village Lancaster
Project description: To encourage the recruitment of more volunteers and review material kept in the organisation’s archives. To hold a workshop and learn about digital archiving to ultimately complete a pictorial history book which preserves and displays the heritage of the village.
Decision: Award grant of £20,010 (99%)
Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues
Applicant: D6: Culture in Transit
Project description: To use professional artists to research and explore the North East’s colonial heritage and facilitate community engagement as part of a wider project across 20 organisations.
Decision: Award grant of £110,547 (67%)
Accessing Our Hidden History – The Disabled People's Archive
Applicant: Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People
Project description: To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Disabled People’s Movement and connect disabled people to their heritage, as well as to promote the existence of the Disabled People’s Archive.
Decision: Award grant of £237,928 (99%)
We're Still Here Blackpool!
Applicant: Abingdon Studios
Project description: To create a queer heritage digital archive platform on the We’re Still Here website, building on previous collections and collecting heritage through community engagement.
Decision: Award grant of £235,463 (92%)
Urbex Audio
Applicant: Modus Arts CIC
Project description: To use sound and 3D imaging to engage people in the heritage surrounding five abandoned yet historically significant buildings. To combine urban exploration, creative outputs and wide engagement with local communities.
Decision: Reject
A Treasury of Tyneside Tales
Applicant: Moving Parts Arts CIO
Project description: To hold heritage workshops where older and younger Tyneside residents uncover local folklore stories, leading to local artists creating a new performance featuring a large-scale crankie.
Decision: Award grant of £49,800 (53%)
The Arcadea Archive: Uncovering the History of Disability Arts and Activism in the North East
Applicant: Arcadea CIO
Project description: To make the archive of Arcadea – including documents that formed the local/national/international disability arts movement of the 1980s and 90s – accessible and visible, to empower disabled people, instil pride and inspire future generations of artists and activists.
Decision: Award grant of £43,284 (81%)
40 Years of Faith in the City: Celebrating Our Journey, Connecting Generations
Applicant: Churches Together in Merseyside Region
Project description: To preserve and celebrate the heritage of the 1985 report, Faith in the City, which was a catalyst for faith-based engagement in urban issues, reflecting on its legacy to deepen awareness of the faith community's commitment to civic welfare and inclusion.
Decision: Reject
ROOTED – INTRODUCING OUT OF MANY PEOPLE CIC
Applicant: OUT OF MANY PEOPLE CIC
Project description: To produce a programme of events celebrating Black British culture and research activities involving community groups. To commission business planning support to help the organisation become more sustainable.
Decision: Reject
Empire Theatre Rotherham – Building for the Community
Applicant: The Rotherham Empire CIC
Project description: To save and open the Empire Theatre as well as deliver a 12-month programme of activities that engage the community and help towards a sustainable future for the building.
Decision: Reject
Anchored in community: building legacy for the Dock Museum
Applicant: Westmoreland and Furness Council
Project description: To hold a range of activities – including digitisation, repackaging and creating a touring exhibition – to preserve the newly acquired Ken Royall photographic collection and engage the public.
Decision: Reject
Pahari Lok
Applicant: Kashmir Youth Project
Project description: To recognise, value and celebrate the cultural heritage and traditional skills of Kashmir people through: the co-creation of activities with members of the community and volunteers; the collection of stories; the continuation of events; and holding exhibitions and archiving.
Decision: Reject
Rooted: A Community Eco Farm for Saddleworth
Applicant: The Outdoor Collaborative
Project description: To purchase land in Saddleworth to create an off-grid eco farm and creative retreat, bringing people together to grow food and learn sustainable living skills.
Decision: Reject
Forget Me Not Project: Highlighting Upholland's Heritage
Applicant: St Thomas the Martyr CE Primary School
Project description: To create online digital teaching resources and tools which can be used by the school’s teachers to teach pupils about the history and heritage of Upholland.
Decision: Reject
Our Heritage Hub: A home to explore our heritage
Applicant: Our Big Picture Ltd
Project description: To become the heritage hub for North East Lincolnshire through capacity-building and pilot heritage activities, with a principal project strand of business modelling to create a business plan, skills audit and a management and maintenance plan.
Decision: Reject
Soothe Through Heritage: Empowering Young Minds Through Local Stories, Traditions and Calm
Applicant: Stable Minds CYP CIC
Project description: To hold a heritage-informed mental health programme, which will be delivered across ten schools in and around Knutsford, Cheshire.
Decision: Reject
Kitchen and disabled toilet
Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Bradfield, St. Nicholas Church Bradfield
Project description: To install a kitchen and toilet to the rear of the church building.
Decision: Reject
Celebrating Diversity In Salford
Applicant: Visible Outcomes 4u Ltd
Project description: To deliver a comprehensive programme of activity to preserve, celebrate and raise awareness of the cultural heritage of refugees and migrants who have settled in Salford over the past two decades.
Decision: Reject
History, heritage and hopes at 40
Applicant: North Tyneside Disability Forum Ltd
Project description: To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the organisation by engaging its service users and volunteers in a programme of craft-based activities to create a commemorative craft piece, deliver 40 activity sessions and produce a time capsule.
Decision: Reject