2 April

Grant increases

Project Inspire

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

Project description: To restore and re-order St Lawrence Church Lechlade to preserve its heritage. To improve accessibility, the facilities and the flexible space of the church along with its eco footprint for the current growing community and future.

Decision: Award grant of £69,670

#HP Medway: A Place to be Proud of

Applicant: Medway Council

Project description: To focus and develop partnership capabilities of heritage and community organisations in the wider Medway region through community grants. To engage with local community associations, education providers, environmental organisations and other cultural actors to increase the diversity of heritage workforces and audiences and reduce barriers for people under-served by heritage.

Decision: Award grant of £114,140

Bevis Marks: Britain’s Most Significant Synagogue

Applicant: Bevis Marks Synagogue Heritage Foundation

Project description: To provide additional funds for the continued repairs and restoration of Bevis Marks, the oldest synagogue in Great Britain, to make its heritage more accessible to a wider range of visitors through physical access improvements, new interpretation and learning and activity programmes.

Decision: Award grant increase of £249,700

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

Improved Access to the Church

Applicant: Trottiscliffe Parochial Church Council

Project description: To carry out works to improve the accessibility and usability of the Grade I listed church St Peter & St Paul Church, Trottiscliffe.

Decision: Reject

InStall: A century of East End Markets

Applicant: The Artful Willows

Project description: To use archive material, alongside oral testimonies to explore the history of three markets in London’s East End (Rathbone Market, Chrisp Street Market, and Petticoat Lane Market) with a focus on immigrant communities.

Decision: Award grant of £18,900

Swallowed By The Waves: lost wonders of Brighton seafront

Applicant: The Fedora Group

Project description: To research and interpret four former Brighton seafront attractions (The West Pier, The Suspension Chain Pier, The Paddle Steamers, The Seashore Electric Railway) and to produce material for an 50th anniversary exhibition, alongside drop-in sessions and public workshops.

Decision: Award grant of £19,950

Thirty Rugs

Applicant: Strange Cargo Arts Company Limited

Project description: To collect and digitally archive a diverse range of oral histories from the Folkstone area for preservation, and to produce artwork (rugs) inspired by the stories.

Decision: Reject

All Saints Church Restoration Fund

Applicant: Mollington Parochial Church Council

Project description: To carry out works to restore and repair the stonework of the Grade II* listed church. To ensure its availability for various community functions as well as being a place of worship.

Decision: Award grant of £23,983

Train the Trainer Pilot Programme

Applicant: CarringtonLIME Heritage Skills Training C.I.C

Project description: To provide a program of skills training for historic lime plasterers, to enable them to develop their ability and certifications to work as tutors and address a skills gap within the industry when it comes to training others.

Decision: Award grant of £25,513

The Marshlander: A Rolling Legacy

Applicant: Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway Supporters Association

Project description: To restore the wartime appearance and function of a converted armoured tourist train from the Second World War, and to make it accessible to the public through a program of exhibits, re-enactments and workshops.

Decision: Award grant of £30,677

Making an arresting case for developing the Old Police Station into a heritage resource for Newport Pagnell

Applicant: Newport Pagnell Town Council

Project description: To perform a feasibility study to determine the benefits and costs of moving the Newport Pagnell Town Council (NPTC) offices and Newport Pagnell Historical Society’s (NPHS) Museum to the Old Police Station in the town.

Decision: Reject

Rewind:1970s - sharing our heritage through arts and culture

Applicant: Arts Uplift Community Interest Company

Project description: To engage diverse vulnerable older adults and collect living memories about 1970s Oxfordshire, via consultation with local people, local historians, reminiscence, music/dance workshops. To train hospital volunteers, staff and artists to deliver future reminiscence sessions and utilise the memory boxes and scrapbook. The legacy is to preserve the heritage of the 1970’s in Oxfordshire, enhance the well-being of participants/audiences and fosters new collaborations.

Decision: Reject

Freezing: preserving the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's visual archive collection

Applicant: Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

Project description: To preserve and rehouse the photographic collection of The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), which includes over 55,000 negatives covering the organisation's history since the end of the First World War. To strengthen the sense of identity as a community and connect past and future generations together.

Decision: Award grant of £39,853

Castilly Henge: examining, illuminating and sustaining Cornwall's ancient sacred heart

Applicant: Cornwall Archaeological Society

Project description: To date the site's phases; establishing whether it contains a stone circle and ensuring improved management. To focus on community outreach, engagement and volunteering to raise awareness of the monument and its place within the historic landscape. To offer opportunities to schools, education settings, social prescribing organisations, community groups and individuals to actively learn more about Cornwall’s heritage.

Decision: Award grant of £42,990

Hove Heritage Highlights: Heritage Boards Restoration and Reinterpretation Project

Applicant: Hove Civic Society

Project description: To restore, update and redesign the nine Hove Heritage Boards and create a website to improve public space, reinvigorate residents’ pride in their home and provide important information points about Hove’s heritage.

Decision: Reject

Diaspora Connect: Engaging Future Generations

Applicant: Jamaica Basic Schools Foundation UK

Project description: To preserve the cultural heritage of the Jamaican diaspora in the UK and record/archive the stories of the Windrush generation. Strengthen intergenerational connections and facilitate the transfer of cultural knowledge and traditions. Engage and empower youth to reconnect them with their heritage and celebrate through festivals and cultural workshops to promote inclusion and strengthen community ties.

Decision: Reject

Mujib and Britain: A Special Relationship (1956 -1975)

Applicant: Easthands

Project description: To create a commemorative Picture-Text book in both hard copy and online, plus an Audio version of the book dedicated to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, architect, and founder and leader who initiated Bangladesh independence, starting his journey in the UK.

Decision: Reject

Refurbishment of windows and doors to upper level Greenhill Beach Chalets

Applicant: Greenhill Community Trust CIC

Project description: To restore and refurbish the Grade II listed Greenhill Beach Chalets in Weymouth, in line with their 1920s appearance.

Decision: Reject

Embedding Resilience

Applicant: Torbay Museums Trust

Project description: To build the capacity of the Torquay Museum to secure a sustainable way forward. To embed the changes of the Groundwork to Resilience project and initiate and test a pilot programme to improve our standard way of operating to extend partnership working in the Torbay area.

Decision: Award grant of £78,600

Disappearing Wildflowers: Restoring Connection to an Ancient Landscape Lost to Time

Applicant: Andover Trees United

Project description: To enhance lowland calcareous grassland in the Diamond Wood, Andover. To raise awareness of its importance, recruit more volunteers and involve more of the community in its creation and care. To improve overall biodiversity and a greater understanding and appreciation of the unique and threatened landscape.

Decision: Reject

Carry On Cantonese Opera

Applicant: Newham Chinese Association

Project description: To record and archive oral histories of Newham’s Cantonese Opera Group (NCACOG) and organise a programme of engagement, performance and exhibition around the material and its connection to Newham’s Chinese population.

Decision: Reject

Spice Odyssey: The Story of British Curry

Applicant: FilmWorks Trust

Project description: To a develop a collection of oral histories of Indian restaurants in the London Borough of Westminster, to provide opportunity for young people with Bangladeshi backgrounds to gain experience with documentary filmmaking, oral history and archiving. To ensure the stories are saved and shared and promote an under-represented aspect of British heritage.

Decision: Reject

First steps in securing the future of the Hovercraft Museum

Applicant: The Hovercraft Museum CIO

Project description: To develop a viable and long-term master plan for the redevelopment of the Hovercraft Museum.

Decision: Award grant of £115,512

Educating Deptford: The Deptford Ragged School and its place in the community

Applicant: The Deptford Ragged Trust

Project description: To preserve, share and research the archives of the Deptford Ragged School. Digitising the material and using it to develop a programme of school engagement, cultural events, and workshops.

Decision: Award Grant of £116,813

The Taw, Torridge, Tamar Swift Project (TT&T Swift Project)

Applicant: Devon Birds

Project description: To install nest-boxes and acoustics in churches around Devon, in order to support the conservation of swifts, alongside engagement projects with local communities spread awareness of their cultural role and habitat loss.

Decision: Reject

Celebrating 80 years Heritage of Barking & Dagenham Council for Voluntary Services

Applicant: Barking and Dagenham Council for Voluntary Services

Project description: To work with and fund 11 local organisations within the voluntary and community sector to deliver a wide programme of heritage activities focused on the history Barking & Dagenham.

Decision: Reject

Ocean Crafting Cultures

Applicant: Take A Part CIO

Project description: To offer a wide-reaching heritage programme, covering activity workshops, oral history, and exhibition, built around eight heritage crafts connected to the maritime history of Plymouth Sound.

Decision: Reject

Spazticus Autisticus: Disability and Punk

Applicant: 104 projects CIC

Project description: To develop a cross-generational oral history collection, workshop programme and documentary, focusing on disabled voices within the history and heritage of punk.

Decision: Reject

Saving Devon's Native Crayfish

Applicant: Wildwood Trust

Project description: To facilitate the restoration of white-clawed crayfish, an endangered native species, to the Devonshire coast. By assessing the viability of release sites, expanding controlled breeding programmes and offering a programme of community engagement around the wildlife.

Decision: Award grant of £220,476

Sowing Seeds: a healthy future for people and nature at East Shallowford Farm

Applicant: The Shallowford Trust

Project description: To provide a nature recovery project via a programme of volunteer engagement and visits, focusing on East Shallowford, Dartmoor. The site contains endangered Rhôs pastures, alongside important native species.

Decision: Award grant of £227,166

A Stitch in Time: the Isle of Portland's complex histories of migration and movement

Applicant: B-SIDE MULTI MEDIA FESTIVAL COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

Project description: To offer a programme of community engagement and collaboration centred on the Isle of Portland’s intangible heritage, textile industry and history of migration.

Decision: Reject

A national collection and digital archive of artwork made by neurodivergent people

Applicant: Project Art Works

Project description: To consolidate and archive collection of artworks from neurodiverse artists from the past 20 years, for future appreciation and study.

Decision: Reject

Global Voyages: reimagining heritage with local communities

Applicant: SS Great Britain Trust

Project description: To develop and expand the community research and engagement programmes of the SS Britain, to help reach a wider audience within the community.

Decision: Award grant of £246,169

Rediscovering Tavistock Abbey

Applicant: Tavistock Town Council

Project description: To undertake a programme of works on the 10th century abbey, including a conservation-driven architectural survey, repairs and archaeological investigation of the remains, historical research and comprehensive interpretation with community involvement throughout.

Decision: Reject

Protecting our Legacy: The Conservation of War and Peace

Applicant: Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation

Project description: To conserve several Georgian paintings within Blenheim palace, using the works to drive a programme of engagement on conservation work.

Decision: Award grant of £249,811

The Railway Village Experience, Swindon

Applicant: The New Mechanics Institution Preservation Trust

Project description: To enhance the accessibility of The Cricketers’ Arms, a historic pub in Swindon’s Railway Village, and improve its usability as a social space.

Decision: Award grant of £249,950

State of the Badger: Gloucestershire

Applicant: Badger Trust 

Project description: To improve conservation and understanding of the badger population in Gloucestershire, through a programme of public engagement and community science.

Decision: Reject

Polish Heriatge Festival

Applicant: Polish Clan Association CIC

Project description: To organise and run a festival of Polish cultural heritage, including a range of live performances, activities and sessions.

Decision: Reject

Kennaway House Lift Reparation

Applicant: Kennaway House Trust

Project description: To repair the lifts at Kennaway House, Sidmouth.

Decision: Reject

St Augustine's bell restoration and infestation remediation

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of Westbury

Project description: To repair and restore the church bells of the Church of St Augustine, Westbury.

Decision: Reject

Wolverton: The Railway Town

Applicant: The Living Archive Project

Project description: To collect, record, and digitally preserve ten oral histories from workers of Wolverton Railway Town.

Decision: Reject

2023 Building Repair Project

Applicant: The Trustees of The Castle Lodge of Freemasons (No.1436)

Project description: To make a series of repairs to the windows and wall of the Masonic Hall, Gough House in Sandgate Folkstone.

Decision: Reject

Reconnecting Roots: Caribbean Heritage Youth Programme

Applicant: Caribbean New Frontier Foundation

Project description: To provide a programme of community engagement projects focused on the Caribbean community in Chelsea and Fulham. Including a series of storytelling workshops, oral history interviews and creative workshops.

Decision: Reject

Voices of Heritage: empowering women through Yoruba and Ibo Folklore

Applicant: THE THERESA WILLIAMS ACTION AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE OF AFRICAN WOMEN

Project description: To collect and safeguard a collection of the oral traditions of Igbo and Yoruba peoples, focusing on a collection of proverbs from the mid 20th century.

Decision: Reject

The People's Choice: deciding the future of the Pulhamite Shelters and the Old Wine Warehouse in Ramsgate

Applicant: Heritage Lab CIC

Project description: To appraise potential opportunities to develop the 1935, Ramsgate Marina Bathing Pool shelters into viable venues for community use.

Decision: Reject

From India to Diaspora: Celebrating the Role of Women in Kathak in Pagrav Dance Company's 20th anniversary year

Applicant: Pagrav Company Ltd

Project description: To catalogue and digitise oral histories of the Pagrav Company’s 20-year history of Kathak dance, including a new performance of historical choreography.

Decision: Reject

The Amsterdam: Looking for Bo-Peep

Applicant: MSL Discover

Project description: To develop and perform a programme of arts activities and performance, themed around the wreck of The Amsterdam and its historical connection to Hastings and Bexhill.

Decision: Reject

Littleham Thrive

Applicant: Devon County Council

Project description: To work with, and encourage, the community to engage with local green-spaces and natural habitats in the Littleham area.

Decision: Reject

Jack Leslie: The Centenary Exhibition

Applicant: Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive

Project description: To commemorate, celebrate and share the life and career of Jack Leslie, the first Black footballer selected for England, through a touring exhibition.

Decision: Reject

Victoria Gardens Wall

Applicant: Tewkesbury Borough Council

Project description: To repair and restore the late medieval walls of Victoria Gardens, Tewkesbury.

Decision: Reject

Christ Church, Henton Revitalisation Project

Applicant: Christ Church Henton Parochial Church Council

Project Description: To conserve, repair, and improve accessibility to the 19th century Christ Church, Henton, including a programme of community engagement to facilitate its use as a public space.

Decision: Reject

Recording and Celebrating Six Decades of Carer Voices

Applicant: Carers UK

Project description: To record and preserve the oral histories of unpaid carers, and to spread awareness of their heritage through a programme of engagement and outreach.

Decision: Reject

Real Heritage: Amplifying Disabled Voices

Applicant: Real DPO ltd

Project description: To record and preserve the oral histories of UK carers, using them as the core for a programme of activities, exhibitions and arts, including a traveling heritage road show.

Decision: Reject

Slaughterhouse

Applicant: Sustainable Conservation Trust

Project description: To restore and redefine the mid 19th century naval slaughterhouse into a community, arts and heritage centre.

Decision: Reject

Tibberton Church: nave historic barrel ceiling and roof conservation/repair

Applicant: Tibberton with Rudford PCC

Project description: To repair and restore the nave ceilings of the 12th Century Holy Trinity Church, Tibberton.

Decision: Reject

Black Girl, In Care: stories of identity, strength, and transition, through the eyes of care experienced black girls

Applicant: Anima Youth C.I.C.

Project description: To document and share the oral history of Black female care-leavers in Croydon, through a programme archival work and exhibition.

Decision: Reject

11 April

Grant Increases

St John’s Chatham – Heritage at Risk – Saved and Transformed into a Gateway Community Hub

Applicant: The Rochester Diocesan Society and Board of Finance

Project description: To inspire and engage Chatham’s under-served communities in their Heritage through the transformation of St John the Divine (St John’s) into a Gateway Community Hub. To involve a wide range of people with their Heritage, and leave the Grade II* Listed, historic Waterloo Church in a better condition for future generations.

Decision: Award grant increase of £243,963

Sounds of the South West

Applicant: Bristol City Council

Project description: To preserve and create access to the region’s audio archives. To digitally preserve recordings from the 1940s to the early 21st century held by archives, museums and heritage centres across south-west England with the focus on collections urgently needing protection against permanent loss and that resonate with people including underrepresented communities.

Decision: Award grant increase of £15,429

17 April

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

Caring for the Cotswolds

Applicant: The Conservation Board for the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Project description: To grow Caring for the Cotswolds so that it reaches its full potential. To enable us to provide grants to more local projects that protect the environment, our heritage and encourage greater access and understanding of the countryside. At the same time, to increase Caring for the Cotswolds role as a vehicle for youth participation, decision making and opportunity.

Decision: Award grant of £249,929