People in front of buildings

Community heritage

Celebrating our community heritage can help bring people together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.

Thanks to National Lottery players, since 2012 we have awarded over £90million to more than 2,700 community heritage projects across the UK.

What do we support?

We help people researching and sharing the history of a community or of a place.

We also fund projects which combine different types of heritage in a particular location.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

research the impact of a historical event on their town. They could then share their findings through displays, talks and online
investigate the names on a war memorial
crowdsource documents and photographs linked to the LGBT+ community, creating an online archive and exhibition
set up an audio trail around a range of buildings, parks and monuments in a town
enable a youth group to research their local history and create an animated film about their learnings

How to get funding

Find out whether your project is eligible for funding.

Janet Mason with signed photo of Love Affair

News article

Narberth’s golden era of pop and rock remembered

During the late 1960s the Queens Hall in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, gained an unlikely reputation amongst pop and rock music fans as a venue that attracted some of the biggest names in the business.

Charcoal drawing by Brothers Behind Bars participant, John G

Charcoal drawing by Brothers Behind Bars participant, John G John G

Project

Brothers Behind Bars: HMP Low Moss explores the experiences of the Great War's conscientious objectors

Publication

All Our Stories evaluation

All Our Stories was a UK-wide community heritage programme designed to explore, share and celebrate local heritage.

Steel Stories: curating industrial heritage in a landscape of rapid change

News article

New exhibition tells story of Teesside's steelmaking history

Opening today (5 April) at Kirkleatham Museum in Redcar, Steel Stories brings together local voices for the museum's "best exhibition yet".

Rom Skatepark

News article

The story of the Hornchurch skatepark that made history

Rom Skatepark has had its fair share of ups and downs, from becoming the first listed skatepark in Europe to suffering a devastating fire just after it celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Black and white photograph of man sitting down

News article

Leeds Eulogy project to celebrate Jamaican lives

An “uplifting” tribute is to be made to the many first-generation Jamaicans who travelled 5,000 miles to make a new life in the city of Leeds.

Venetian Waterways boating lake

Story

25 years: reviving the forgotten heritage of The Broads

To celebrate The National Lottery’s 25th Birthday, we explore the areas around The Broads and uncover how our investment is ensuring its important histories will never be forgotten.

Susan Pitter

Blog

Eulogy - the responsibility of telling the Windrush generation's stories

It was losing my father Hermerde in September 2017 and the funeral of one of his closest friends exactly a year later that inspired the Eulogy project.

Ros Kerslake

News article

'Huge demand' for new Heritage Horizon Awards

The first stage of the new Heritage Horizon Awards has now closed, with initial interest showing a huge appetite for National Lottery funding for heritage.

Milton Brown

Story

After Windrush - telling stories of struggle and celebration

Huddersfield community leader Milton Brown on the very personal journey which led to the film Windrush: The Years After, part-funded by The National Lottery.

Nasir Adams

Blog

Every voice matters - collecting black stories

A few months into his new role, Nasir Adam explains what he's doing to bring the museum together with black communities across Wales.

Serena Cecilia

Story

25 years: discovering the origins of grime and connecting communities in Waltham Forest

Since the National Lottery began 25 years ago, more than £20million has been invested in Waltham Forest’s heritage. It’s restored historic buildings, helped nature thrive and rejuvenated streets. It’s also explored some incredible community stories, including the history of grime music. “It’s helped

Saoirse-Monica Jackson

Story

25 years: Derry Girls star takes us on a tour of her home city

To celebrate The National Lottery’s 25th Birthday, we explore (with help from Saoirse-Monica Jackson) how its investment in heritage has transformed Northern Ireland’s second city.

Heleb Quigley

Blog

25 years: the promise of better days – how National Lottery funding helped transform Northern Ireland’s second city

Indeed, 25 years ago was a time of great hope and greater belief as we saw the end of a violent and dark time in our history and the promise of better days emerging. It was against this backdrop that the relationship between The National Lottery Heritage Fund and this city began to take root. It is

Three miners

News article

25 years: restoring the prosperity and pride of Blaenavon

Blaenavon: a community reborn Perched high on a South Wales hillside, Blaenavon is a community forged from the heat, smoke and dust of the Industrial Revolution. Its ironworks and coal pit provided the majority of the town’s residents with employment until 1980. The town's shops, churches, chapels,

Blaenavon

News article

25 years: voices from Blaenavon

For over a quarter of a century, The National Lottery has been a major catalyst to revive and regenerate communities across the UK through heritage. We visited Blaenavon to see how National Lottery funding has helped this once beleaguered post-industrial town revive its fortunes and restore its