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

Lancing History Wall Project

Applicant: Lancing Parish Council

Project description: To celebrate and preserve the history of the community. To wallpaper the parish hall corridor with historical photographs of Lancing to create a welcoming environment to encourage pride in local heritage, foster community engagement and offer a lasting resource for future generations to learn about Lancing’s history.

Decision: Reject

The Windrush Memory Quilt

Applicant: Heritage Community Crafts C.I.C

Project description: To document the original crafting traditions of the Windrush Generation. To gain first-hand stories and knowledge and display a handmade 'Windrush Quilt' to showcase crafting stories, techniques and memories to safeguard the heritage.

Decision: Award grant of £10,568 (100%)

Project Leonards

Applicant: Medway Play Lab CIC

Project description: To expand participants’ life-long learning with live interpretation of heritage materials to enhance the CIC member experience and connect the wider local community to the Grade II listed building, Store 104, Rochester High Street. To raise awareness of the history of Store 104 and help sustain and increase business for both the shop and for Medway Play Lab CIC.

Decision: Award grant of £20,485 (93%)

Hastings Queer Underground – Now and Then

Applicant: Home Live Art Limited

Project description: To support the Hastings Queer History Collective (HQHC) to begin to develop an infrastructure to support the identification, collection, preservation and interpretation of local LGBTQ+ history.  

Decision: Award grant of £35,550 (64%)

Community Rhythms

Applicant: Evolve Music

Project description: To document, preserve and celebrate the rich spoken word and musical traditions of Bristol’s Somali and East African diaspora. To create and share an archive of music and sound that explores themes of motherhood, family dynamics and migration. 

Decision: Award grant of £37,555 (79%)

Old Haunts: Queer Footprints in Weston and Bristol, 1980–2000   

Applicant: Beacons Icons Dykons

Project description: To work across North Somerset and Bristol to bring hidden queer history to life, to work with artists, communities and archivists to explore new ways to reanimate the city and county archives.

Decision: Reject

Holy Trinity Minchinhampton Stained-Glass Windows Restoration Project

Applicant: Minchinhampton with Box Parochial Church Council

Project description: To repair, conserve and clean all windows of the Grade I listed church. To enable the stories in the windows to be understood and celebrated.

Decision: Award grant of £38,008 (20%)

Edith1000: Happy Birthday Edith & Edith

Applicant: ExploreTheArch Theatre Company LTD

Project description: To mark the millennial anniversaries of the birth of Edith of Wessex and Edith the Fair. To explore the currently inaccessible 'herstories' of the two eleventh-century female decision-makers, landowners and political influencers. 

Decision: Reject

Timeless Ties: Preserving and Passing on the African Textile Heritage

Applicant: Christ the Rock International Ministry

Project description: To preserve and pass on the art of traditional African tie and dye to ensure its cultural significance is understood and appreciated by younger generations in the UK. 

Decision: Award grant of £38,517 (100%)

The Burundian, Rwandan, and Ugandan Traditional Marriage Culture Project

Applicant: FORT-4-YOUTH FOUNDATION

Project description: To promote traditional marriage and raise awareness among young people from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda who were born and raised in the United Kingdom. To implement a strategy to ensure long-term sustainability and preserve the traditional marriage heritage. 

Decision: Reject

Tapestry of Black Britons: Part 1

Applicant: Tapestry of Black Britons CIC

Project description: To help communities commemorate nearly 2000 years of military service, from African Romans to the Second World War and the 60th anniversary of the Notting Hill carnival. To offer fresh interpretation through a crafting legacy at risk of being forgotten and replicate the tradition of historical travelling tapestries to reach wider communities.

Decision: Reject

Reconnect: Exploring and Preserving Heritage and Nature Using Technology

Applicant: Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development – Surrey County Council

Project description: To inspire and connect young people with the natural and historic heritage of Henley Fort. To empower children to engage with nature through innovative, creative inclusive educational activities and create a generation of young people who value and protect heritage, understand sustainability and see themselves as part of the natural world.

Decision: Reject

Mining Memory

Applicant: Luminescent CIC

Project description: To record and conserve the memories and stories of the East Kent mining communities, who supported those seeking sanctuary (from within the UK and abroad) between 1923–2023. To record knowledge connected to these experiences of displacement and exile. 

Decision: Award grant of £69,246 (96%)

A CELEBRATION OF THE ART, CULTURE AND PEOPLE OF KERALA THROUGH CLASSICAL KATHAKALI THEATRE

Applicant: KALA CHETHENA KATHAKALI TROUPE

Project description: To raise awareness of Kathakali and other arts of Kerala. To investigate the intangible cultural heritage, preserve the heritage of Kerala communities and to bring Kathakali alive through storytelling and costume.

Decision: Award grant of £75,700 (80%)

The Story of Steam: Trevithick, Hayle, and Helston Railway, past and present

Applicant: Mayes Creative Ltd

Project description: To reconnect communities across Hayle, Helston, Camborne, Redruth, Portreath and the Lizard Peninsula with Cornwall’s pioneering railway and engineering heritage. To raise awareness of Trevithick and Murdoch's key contributions to the international story of steam railways and encourage stewardship and embed industrial heritage within contemporary life. To inspire new heritage champions and strengthen long-term community responsibility for Cornwall’s railway legacy.

Decision: Reject

Lights, Camera, Oxford – Preserving Oxford's Moving Image Heritage

Applicant: OXFORD FILM AND VIDEO MAKERS LIMITED

Project description: To launch a new conservation and engagement project on Oxford’s rich moving image heritage. To digitise and explore community archival footage, capture untold stories of Oxford's cinemas and preserve the endangered craft of pre-digital filmmaking.

Decision: Award grant of £96,602 (96%)

Global Ecology not Global Economy: Archives of Environmental Resistance

Applicant: MayDay Rooms

Project description: To preserve and digitise the archival collections of the UK’s ecological movement. To catalogue the collection, build an open-access online repository of the material, conduct in-depth research into the collection, create guides, map connections between the collection and other archives and incorporate oral histories and community-sourced content into an online resource. 

Decision: Award grant of £99,838 (70%)

Ranscombe Connect: Community Participation for Wild Plants and Fungi

Applicant: Plantlife International – the wild plant conservation charity

Project description: To strengthen Ranscombe’s role as a green space, a nature-friendly working farm and a leading example of community conservation. To support a new Senior Participation Officer role, the creation of a local Community Panel and 15 new volunteer roles that reflect local diversity. To be a more resilient, inclusive and well-connected reserve and a model to guide similar community conservation initiatives across Plantlife’s UK reserves.

Decision: Award grant of £100,000 (84%)

A new future for the iconic Middle Street Synagogue

Applicant: Foundation for Jewish Heritage

Project description: To secure a sustainable future for Middle Street Synagogue, to detail plans to transform the Synagogue into a Jewish Cultural Centre and offer a dynamic cultural, educational and heritage offer for the local community and visitors.

Decision: Award grant of £112,740 (88%)

The Heritage Hotline: Thanet's LGBTQ+ history from the 1960s to 2000s

Applicant: Margate Pride CIC

Project description: To carry out research and create an archive of Margate and Thanet’s LGBTQ+ history from the 1960s to 2000s and to preserve stories and objects that have long been overlooked. To celebrate and invest in the LGBTQ+ community and empower individuals to shape their own narrative. 

Decision: Award grant of £123,968 (89%)

Southover Grange Damp remedials 2025

Applicant: East Sussex County Council

Project description: To address urgent repair needs caused by damp ingress, which is threatening the building’s historic stonework, windows and internal finishes. To save the heritage asset for future generations and continue to support its use as an inclusive public venue.

Decision: Reject

Rangeelu Gujarat – Routes and Roots (RG:RR)

Applicant: Red Lotus Events CIC

Project description: To capitalise on the organisation’s connections and start to record, document and archive at-risk intangible cultural practices and heritage. To deliver a two-year outreach programme to involve 150+ Brent volunteers and participants and focus on the most at-risk heritage.

Decision: Award grant of £153,890 (95%)

Take Courage: An Homage to Queer Vauxhall in the 70s, 80s, and 90s

Applicant: Duckie Ltd

Project description: To explore the community heritage of three backstreet boozers in the ‘Vauxhall Gay Village’ in the late 20th century. To support groups of intergenerational volunteers to uncover hidden histories from working class south London survivors. A deep dive into public and private archives will lead to 10 history clubs, a zine and an interactive exhibition – an animated cardboard pub crawl at the new London Museum. 

Decision: Award grant of £154,243 (99%)

Saving Poltimore House

Applicant: Poltimore House Trust

Project description: To undertake urgent works to ensure the safety of the Grade II* listed building which is in danger of collapse following a highly destructive fire in April 2024. To consult existing users to inform future plans for a sustainable use for Poltimore House.

Decision: Award grant of £156,180 (89%)

Thomas Hardy's Dorset: Church tales and trails

Applicant: The Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance

Project description: To make church heritage accessible to new audiences and introduce new digital heritage engagement. To create a new church trail and to link 12 churches with a connection to author Thomas Hardy. To upskill church volunteers in digital heritage storytelling to enable a new generation to experience and enjoy church heritage.

Decision: Reject

Veteran's Voices: 100 Years of Housing Heroes

Applicant: The Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation

Project description: To preserve the heritage and stories associated with The Stoll Foundation due to an upcoming move. To improve the wellbeing of beneficiaries and teach key heritage skills to provide new opportunities and build a lasting connection with the local community and create a permanent tie between the old and new sites. 

Decision: Award grant of £172,439 (100%)

Protecting Hargate Forest

Applicant: The Woodland Trust

Project description: To make the woodland better connected and thriving for nature. To promote and understand its heritage significance for visitors and the local community. To increase the woodland habitat from 61.7 to 70.8 hectares and manage the site as a whole. To invite volunteers to take positive action to help restore its natural habitats and to gradually fulfil its long-term potential as a resilient and biodiverse haven for wildlife and people.

Decision: Award grant of £246,941 (65%)

#HP 'Writers, Artists & Musicians on the English Riviera': Local Heritage Grant Awards

Applicant: Torbay Council

Project description: To build on momentum after the initial round of Local Heritage Grant (LHG) Awards, delivered 2023–2025. To offer another round of LHGs, to further enable more residents to access, participate in and protect the rich heritage of Torbay.

Decision: Award grant of £248,529 (100%)

Connecting Neighbourhoods, Nature, and Heritage: Whitehawk's Hills

Applicant: The Trust for Developing Communities (TDC)

Project description: To reconnect East Brighton residents with their heritage through inclusive guided walks, new trails, heritage crafts, community activities, augmented reality (AR) interpretation and volunteering. To become a vibrant, inclusive heritage and nature site, cared for and celebrated by its local community.

Decision: Award grant of £249,000 (85%)

Saving Halberton's Ancient Roman Environment (SHARE)

Applicant: University of Exeter

Project description: To rescue the Roman villa complex at Battens Farm and record the excavation before crucial evidence is lost due to ploughing. The excavations will form the core of a five-year community project that will share the archaeological process with people in the local area who are not normally engaged in heritage. 

Decision: Award grant of £249,243 (95%)

Freddie Mercury's People – From Persepolis to London – The Miracle of A Kind of Magic

Applicant: The Asha Foundation

Project description: To digitally create and promote an interactive virtual museum to connect the untold story of Zoroastrians to global history, an oral history video and audio archive which captures the lived experience of Zoroastrians who moved to the UK and a narrative documentary on Zoroastrians in the UK. 

Decision: Reject

Restoration and heritage re-interpretation of St Mawgan-in-Pydar church for community and visitors

Applicant: PCC St Mawgan-in-Pydar Church

Project description: To repair and eliminate water ingress and make the church sustainable for the future. To increase accessibility and inclusion and for the local community to deepen their understanding of the heritage and to engage and support it.

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

Saving Bembridge Fort; Transformation of a Community Asset

Applicant: Bembridge Fort Trust

Project description: To repair and prevent further decline to Bembridge Fort and bring the site back into community use. To build financial sustainability for future development and for Bembridge Fort to become a celebrated heritage destination. 

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

From Liberation to Legacy

Applicant: sisters forum

Project description: To empower parents – particularly elderly women to be seen and heard and create a safe and dignified space for Bangaldeshi elders to share their stories of war, migration and survival. 

Decision: Reject

Political Blackness: Piecing together a history of Black, Brown, and Mixed heritage working-class communities in South Norwood

Applicant: All Heads Recognised CIC

Project description: To look specifically at the communal working-class histories of South Norwood from the perspectives of Black and Brown people, as well as people of mixed heritage. To expand beyond the programme to ensure young people understand and reflect about the cultures that are among them, particularly from a historical perspective.

Decision: Reject

Voices in Motion

Applicant: The Teignbridge Community Project CIC

Project description: To establish a community-led film club based at Newton Abbot Library exploring themes of local and British film heritage. To offer inclusive, accessible screenings of heritage films, documentaries and community-created content. To celebrate cinematic history and promote media literacy. To support participants to develop storytelling and digital skill and to nurture pride of place, promote wellbeing and strengthen community cohesion.

Decision: Reject

Do you believe in Giants?

Applicant: Radical Ritual Ltd.

Project description: To bring people together to develop relationships across communities in Dorset and Yeovil, to foster collaboration, creativity and connection around the heritage of the Cerne Abbas Giant.

Decision: Reject

Eden Portland Digital: A Gallery of Immortal Words

Applicant: Underground Mutton C.I.C

Project description: To gather stories, memories and reflections from local people, with a focus on grief, ecology, identity and the island's unique relationship with stone and the sea. The result will be a poetic digital platform, designed to feel like a living archive or gallery of immortal words.

Decision: Reject

Breaking the Silence: Preserving the Heritage of African Survivors in the Diaspora

Applicant: Against All Odds Still Standing (AOS)

Project description: To document and preserve the cultural heritage of African survivors of domestic abuse in London and Kent. To conduct 15 oral history interviews, train 10 community volunteers in heritage documentation and create a travelling exhibition to share these powerful narratives.

Decision: Reject

The Rumble in the Jungle

Applicant: Chosen of Hope Health Care Limited

Project description: To preserve the historical legacy of the event through oral history interviews and archival collections. To enrich the cultural heritage of Democratic Republic of the Congo and highlight the significance of the Stadium of 20 Mai, where the fight took place and to curate archives and collections related to the stadium to underscore its role in shaping sports history and national pride.

Decision: Reject

HEYTESBURY OPEN PLACE – Conserving a thousand years of heritage. Meeting the needs of present and future generations. Protecting the environment

Applicant: Heytesbury with Tytherington and Knook Parochial Church Council

Project description: To conserve the nave, install a new welcoming entrance space, reduce the building’s carbon footprint and welcome the community as a vital part of the creative process.

Decision: Reject

Preserving Caribbean Heritage: Empowering Black Youth through Soca and Cultural Storytelling

Applicant: SOCA NEWS GLOBAL LTD

Project description: To empower 40 under-served black youth aged 18–30 and connect them with their Caribbean heritage. To preserve Soca's cultural legacy, train young people to document and share authentic cultural narratives and create a living digital archive for future generations.

Decision: Reject

Roses Standing Ovation – A Living Archive of Community Memory to celebrate 50 years of The Roses Theatre

Applicant: Roses Theatre Trust

Project description: To collect, share and preserve memories and artefacts contributed by audiences, performers, staff and volunteers of The Roses Theatre. To culminate in a major exhibition in November 2025 and the launch of a permanent, accessible digital archive co-created with Gloucestershire Archives. 

Decision: Reject

Threads of Resilience: Weaving Sudanese Refugee Heritage in Westminster (1995–2025)

Applicant: Wings of Hope Community Association

Project description: To foster intergenerational dialogue, strengthen local belonging and educate the public to cultivate empathy and social cohesion. To capture narratives to ensure their legacy endures as a testament to resilience and multicultural solidarity, to honour their journeys and enrich collective memory. 

Decision: Reject

Restoration of St Mary's Steeple

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

Project description: To restore the Grade II listed church's steeple to its original grandeur, to ensure its structural integrity and aesthetic appeal.

Decision: Reject

Lango Heritage Digital Library

Applicant: Lango Cultural Foundation (UK)

Project description: To collect and digitise personal recollections through audio and video interviews, to capture voices, memories and perspectives of older generations to preserve the Lango heritage. A robust, secure server infrastructure is to support long-term preservation to ensure future generations can access, learn from and celebrate the Lango community’s cultural heritage.

Decision: Reject

Restoring Shadow, the oldest Falmouth Working Boat

Applicant: Hopper Traditional Boat Works LTD

Project description: To restore Shadow, the oldest surviving Falmouth Working Boat, built in 1884. The project aims to promote sustainable heritage conservation, revitalise traditional skills and secure the vessel’s legacy for future generations as well as strengthen Cornwall’s maritime heritage, boost cultural tourism and contribute positively to the local economy.

Decision: Reject

Roots and Future: Ukrainian Language and Cultural Heritage for the Next Generation

Applicant: CulturaLinks Community CIC

Project description: To deliver a community-led Ukrainian School to help displaced children and families preserve their cultural identity, language and heritage. To offer heritage-based education, including Ukrainian language, history, literature and traditions. To safeguard intangible cultural heritage and build an inclusive, sustainable model for heritage learning among refugee and migrant communities in Somerset and beyond.

Decision: Reject

Sustainable volunteering at Hollycombe – Investing in people, place, and planet

Applicant: Hollycombe Working Steam Museum

Project description: To create a training programme and volunteer space to offer Hollycombe a sustainable future and the opportunity to build a sustainable long-term skills base to allow the museum to engage and train a new generation of volunteers over the next 10 years. 

Decision: Reject

Grant increases

New Collections Management and Digital Asset Management Systems at the Wallace Collection

Applicant: The Wallace Collection

Project description: To carry out a thorough audit and clean data of the collection and image records, check records meet collection documentation standards, include all uncatalogued assets in storage, reconcile and amend records, then scope for new Collections Management and Digital Asset Management Systems.

Decision: Reject