The money, made available under HLF’s Sharing Heritage community grant programme, will mean that the Victoria Cross Trust – which was set up in 2011 to ensure all the graves of our bravest servicemen are conserved and remembered – can now document information about each serviceman including their birthplace, where they lived and died, and where they are buried.

The database will provide a free service for the public to access information on all 1357 VC holders, and there will also be a facility to submit further details and photographs for inclusion on the website. The data will be provided and verified by a group of expert volunteers, with the trust hoping to have the project completed by September 2014.

Gary Stapleton, Chairman of the Victoria Cross Trust, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund to help us create the database. The work we do is vital in order to preserve the memory of our military heroes and we believe this database will help in doing so. Not only will it provide a central resource for people to find comprehensive information on the men awarded a VC, but we hope that it will also allow us to promote our work and increase public support and awareness for the Trust.”

Fiona Spiers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund for Yorkshire and the Humber said: “This award will enable the Victoria Cross Trust to expand on their work to monitor and make accessible details of all VC servicemen from the nineteenth century to today. The creation of a new database is particularly timely as we approach the First World War Centenary, and we hope it will offer people of all ages an opportunity to engage with the stories of servicemen awarded the highest military honour.”

The Victoria Cross Trust exists to repair and preserve the neglected graves of Victoria Cross holders, and perpetuate their memory and ensure they are honoured. Only the graves of the servicemen that have been awarded the military honour who died on the battlefield during the First and Second World War are looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, otherwise it is the responsibility of the living relatives. However many of these graves have been neglected which is when the Victoria Cross Trust is needed.

The new database will be an excellent way for the trust to keep up to date with any much needed grave restorations, making its mission to restore all the neglected graves of VC holders a lot easier. This announcement comes just weeks after The Victoria Cross Trust was granted membership with COBSEO (The Confederation of Service Charities) which aims to represent, promote and further the interest of the Armed Forces Community.

Notes to editors

About the Victoria Cross Trust
The work of the Victoria Cross Trust restoring the graves of service men can only continue with the help of the donations from the public, to donate please visit the Trust’s JustGiving page and pledge to help commemorate our nations’ heroes. For more information please visit the Victoria Cross Trust website .

Sharing Heritage
For more information about the Heritage Lottery Fund’s current small community grants programme Sharing Heritage, for grants ranging from £3,000 – £10,000 please visit:
http://www.hlf.org.uk/HowToApply/programmes/Pages/SharingHeritage.aspx

First World War: then and now
HLF has just launched a £6million small grants programme to help communities mark the Centenary of the First World War and is making at least £1million available per year for six years until 2019. It will provide grants between £3,000 and £10,000 enabling communities and groups right across the UK to explore, conserve and share their First World War heritage and deepen their understanding of the impact of the conflict. If a group have a project idea to mark the Centenary of the First World War, an online application pack is available on the website.