In 2017, Dreadnought South West received a £60,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for their online Rebellious Sounds Archive. The archive now contains oral histories about women and their activism, with special emphasis on LGBTQ+, disability and diverse ethnic stories.

Volunteers helped collect and transcribe the oral history excerpts and researched stories of suffragettes in the South West.

Carmen Talbot, Rebellious Sounds Archive Coordinator, said: “One of the brilliant things about working on this project was the ability to document social her-story as it happened, as well as uncover untold stories from past decades.”

More recently, a grant of £19,100 from our Heritage Emergency Fund and £24,400 from our Culture Recovery Fund helped keep Dreadnought going in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the brilliant things about working on this project was the ability to document social her-story as it happened, as well as uncover untold stories from past decades.

The funding was used for website management and technical equipment for recording and broadcasting from home.

They used it to host free online talks in September 2020 by women artists such as rapper and poet Silai Estatira and choral arranger Claire Ingleheart.