National Lottery Grants for Heritage

Retracing Eric Ravilious' footsteps in Newhaven

Applicant: Edgeland Modern CIC

Project description: To revive and commemorate the heritage of Newhaven through the lens of the watercolourist Eric Ravilious. To create a Ravilious Newhaven map to retrace Ravilious' footsteps in Newhaven, as well as to organise talks and walks to engage the community. They will share the project highlights and educational content through social media.

Decision: Award grant of £4,775

"KRAN Family Matters": Kent Refugee Action Network 20th Anniversary Heritage Project

Applicant: Kent Refugee Action Network

Project description: To document the history of Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), a charity supporting refugees in Kent. The project aims to record in-depth oral histories with the people involved with KRAN over the last 20 years, from the founders, staff and volunteers to the individuals who have received support from the charity.

Decision: Award grant of £9,920

The Winter Stories workshop series

Applicant: Tidal Tales Collective CIC

Project description: To run a series of workshops in libraries, community centres and schools to engage young people and families with traditional folk songs and stories.  Workshops will be accompanied with props made from endangered crafts with the aim of increasing awareness of environmental care taking.   

Decision: Award grant of £9,950

After London – Queer Wilderness and 19th Century Nature Writing

Applicant: Social Material CIC

Project description: To draw on the work of 19th century English author, Richard Jeffries, to explore natural heritage in urban environments and imagine queer ecologies of the future. It will be led by and for members of the LGBTQIA+ community with a focus on those with mental health, neurodiversity or chronic health conditions. It aims to engage 55–70 participants in a programme that can be attended as a whole, or for one-off experiences; plus a further 120+ public audiences.

Decision: Award grant of £9,998

Embracing Neurodiversity: Contributions of Extraordinary Minds

Applicant: Equal Potential CIC

Project description: To research, share and celebrate neurodivergent heritage with current audiences and the wider community of Farnborough. Engagement activities will include the distribution of a book created by volunteers, video clips and an exhibition focusing on neurodivergent public and historical figures. 

Decision: Award grant of £10,000

CARIBBEAN HERITAGE: OLDER PEOPLE MAKING A SONG AND DANCE ABOUT THEIR HERITAGE

Applicant: Place At My Table

Project description: To focus on the heritage of Caribbean folk songs and dances, training 25 volunteers to lead on the collection of 20 oral history interviews with elderly Caribbean individuals. A film of the interviews will be made, exhibited at Honeywood Museum, archived at Sutton Council and distributed, preserving and transmitting the traditions that sustained Caribbean migrant communities.

Decision: Award grant of £10,000

The Grip

Applicant: Code1 Community Group CIC

Project description: To focus on the heritage of migrant communities of Tottenham by fostering intergenerational engagement in understanding and celebrating the contributions of migrant communities to the local history. This also involves collecting oral histories and photographs to create an exhibition and deliver eight half-day workshops for 30 Year 6 students each.

Decision: Award grant of £10,000

Lost & Found: Redefining the folk arts and traditions of Wessex

Applicant: Wessex Museums Trust

Project description: A partnership involving Dorset, Poole, Salisbury and Wiltshire Museums and Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. It aims to improve research, interpretation and the condition of folk collections in each of the museums. It will also extend collections through contemporary collecting, film and photography, focusing on the folk heritage of the area’s diverse communities.

Decision: Award grant of £61,630

Stories of struggles and strides: half a century of Bangladeshi endeavours in London's East End (1950–2000)

Applicant: East End Connection

Project description: An oral history and research project looking at challenges faced and the contributions of Bangladeshi migrants who settled in the East End of London, covering a period of fifty years (1950–2000). It will carry out research and outreach activities with groups and community centres including Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives and London Metropolitan Archives. 

Decision: Award grant of £84,896

Celebrating Our Past, Creating our Future

Applicant: Blossom LGBT CIC

Project description: To create a lasting archive of the LGBTQ+ community in Surrey’s written records in partnership with Surrey History Centre. It aims to bridge a historical knowledge gap and support the local community in understanding queer history by collaborating with other arts, heritage and culture organisations. 

Decision: Award grant of £99,311

South Metropolitan (West Norwood) Cemetery: Robson Road Entrance

Applicant: London Borough of Lambeth

Project description: To create a new entrance and exit from West Norwood Cemetery in the northeastern corner close to the Greek Enclosure and St Stephen’s Chapel.

Decision: Award grant of £225,000

Our Hospital: conserving, curating and responding to St George's Art and Heritage Collection

Applicant: St George's Hospital Charity

Project description: To conserve and catalogue the art and heritage collection of St George’s Hospital Charity and use it to engage more people from the communities who use, work and live near to St George's hospitals. It will recruit one Arts Collection Officer and three artists, delivering an exhibition and activities programme each year for St George’s Arts Week.

Decision: Award grant of £249,209

Putting Down Routes

Applicant: Kent County Council

Project description: To increase access to the North Downs Way by working in partnership with Black Girls Hike and Wild with Wheels. It will engage and encourage groups that are currently underserved by the North Downs Way to use the trail by leading walks and creating an accessibility toolkit.  

Decision: Award grant of £249,548

Tomorrow's Museum for Dorset – A Sustainable Future

Applicant: THE DORSET NATURAL HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Project description: To build organisational resilience, widening Dorset Museum’s audiences and developing sustainable markets. It will deliver a new marketing and PR plan that will enable growth, connecting more and diverse audiences with Dorset Museum and its collections. Additional staffing will also support the creation and launch of a new website. 

Decision: Award grant of £250,000

A Tale of Two Schools: Tavistock, Devon

Applicant: Tavistock Area Support Services

Project description: To explore the historical, geographical, occupational, and cultural heritage of the Grammar School and the Dolvin Road School in Tavistock. The project will record and preserve firsthand accounts from former school pupils and share the research findings through various media, including written publications and digital technology.

Decision: Award grant of £8,682

Their Service Honoured and Remembered

Applicant: AJEX The Jewish Military Association

Project description: To explore Anglo Jewish military heritage and deliver a pilot project digitalising a collection of the Jewish Chaplaincy Service’s index cards, which serve as a record of Jewish service personnel’s contributions during the Second World War. With staff and volunteers, it will create a digital archive and database of the index cards.

Decision: Award grant of £9,780

Old Ford Neighbourhood

Applicant: The Geezers

Project description: To focus on the industrial history and 20th century daily life of people in the Tower Hamlets area of Old Ford. It aims to create a sense of place and belonging by developing an Old Ford pub quiz, a mobile exhibition and collection of oral histories hosted on their website.

Decision: Award grant of £9,780

Neolithic Pottery Workshops for schools and young people

Applicant: The Cornubian Arts & Science Trust

Project description: To focus on the production of pottery using Gabbroic clay in Cornwall from the Neolithic period and  to engage at least 300 school children through workshops and recording a video demonstrating the techniques used.

Decision: Award grant of £9,969

The Welcome Project

Applicant: Wessex Archaeology Limited

Project description: To enable overseas staff working at the hospital to foster a sense of belonging to their new local community. It is in partnership with ArtCare based at Salisbury District Hospital. Sessions and drop-ins will be led by heritage experts and walks in natural heritage.

Decision: Award grant of £9,985

Transit 2023

Applicant: Halfpace Theatre CIC

Project description: A community-based initiative that will develop a new piece of physical theatre drawn from migrant narratives and a community engagement programme consisting of skills development and mentoring. It will enable migrant voices to be heard as a key part of London’s heritage.

Decision: Reject

11 Plus Craft

Applicant: Farnham Crafts Quarter CIC

Project description: To offer specialist textile and woodworking sessions to children aged 11–16, in partnership with the Museum of Farnham and promoted through Farnham Maltings craft team. Sessions will cover how to create colour from plants, cloth dyeing, wood block printing and use of looms. 

Decision: Award grant of £12,812

Theatre Peckham – A Journey

Applicant: Theatre Peckham

Project description: To explore the organisational heritage of the Theatre Peckham as they approach their 40th anniversary year. The applicant will recruit two Heritage Champions from the community and 12 Young Black Producers, collect stories to create and perform a response piece to the collated material, which will then be deposited at Southwark Borough Archives.

Decision: Award grant of £44,437

Our Heritage – Our Cultures

Applicant: Golden-Oldies

Project description: Based upon bringing together children in primary schools with older people in their local community, it will increase wellness and awareness of local intergenerational heritage.

Decision: Reject

"Legacy Voices" – Preserving Heritage of the Global Majority and Seldom Heard communities

Applicant: Croydon BME Forum

Project description: Working with global majority communities based in Croydon, it aims to preserve and capture the memories of what it calls ‘seldom heard communities’. It will bridge the gap between generations young and old by working in schools and engaging students through volunteering. 

Decision: Reject

Going to the Dogs: An Oral History of Wimbledon Greyhound Racing Stadium

Applicant: The Wimbledon in Sporting History Trust

Project description: To explore the sporting heritage of greyhound racing in Wimbledon. It focuses on the social history of greyhound racing in Wimbledon from the 1930s–1985. A mosaic of the famous dog ‘Mick the Miller’ will also be renovated and installed at the stadium. 

Decision: Award grant of £58,460

Engaging new audiences with the heritage of bell ringing

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Peter, Ropley, Winchester

Project description: To introduce new audiences to the historic art of bell ringing and conserve and repair six bells. It will offer bell-ringing training opportunities to a diverse group of bell ringers and ongoing training in other churches to safeguard the tradition in the area.  

Decision: Award grant of £62,287

Festa Junina – A Brazilian Heritage tradition in the UK

Applicant: Clube dos Brasileirinhos Ltd

Project description: To focus on the heritage of the Brazilian celebration of Festa Junina. Through workshops, a performance and a film screening, it aims to encourage engagement with this cultural celebration among both migrant Brazilian families, new generations of Brazilian youth and the wider community in Brent.

Decision: Award grant of £79,772

Journey to the frontline: Trailblazing Women of the British Army

Applicant: Legasee Educational Trust

Project description: To create a filmed oral history archive exploring the experiences of female British Veterans who served in the Women’s Royal Army Corps from 1949–1991. 30 testimonies from female veterans will be recorded across the country. 

Decision: Award grant of £88,474

Sharing our Future

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of the Annunciation Bryanston Street, St Marylebone

Project description: To strengthen the church’s position in terms of fundraising, governance and audience development. It includes a restoration component as it plans to restore the Calvary War Memorial – located outside the church building – after an act of vandalism which has partly damaged its façade.

Decision: Award grant of £90,000

Re:Discover London (formerly Inspire)

Applicant: Streetwise Opera

Project description: To focus on the heritage of Black or mixed heritage music composers. Streetwise Opera will deliver a community research project engaging 55 participants targeted from homeless settings in archival research and music production activities. The participants will create a multidisciplinary, interactive exhibition and an operatic performance to be hosted at the Southbank Centre.

Decision: Award grant of £92,348

Funding the Future of Brooklands

Applicant: Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd

Project description: To improve Brooklands Museum’s financial resilience by initiating and developing philanthropy, which will deliver increased yearly income. The Museum will recruit a Head of Philanthropy with the aim to develop its fundraising abilities and embed them within the organisation. 

Decision: Award grant of £100,000

Uncertain Tides: Young Peoples' experiences of their changing coastline

Applicant: PaddleBoat Theatre CIC

Project description: To engage a diverse range of young people with at risk coastlines between Exmouth and Paignton, through outdoor learning, creative workshops, a digital sharing platform, and a new family production. 

Decision: Award grant of £101,087

Colourful Heritage: Zandra Rhodes inspiring future generations of young designers and creative practitioners

Applicant: University for the Creative Arts

Project description: To focus on the works of the UK textile and fashion designer Dame Zandra Rhodes. It will recruit four student internships to record and digitise her works and conduct six interviews, delivering a series of workshops to 16–17-year-olds from socio-economically deprived backgrounds. It will conclude with an online symposium and presentation of papers.

Decision: Award grant of £111,059

Digital 1001

Applicant: The Story Museum

Project description: To create a new database that will showcase and celebrate the heritage of the Story Museum’s collection of 750 stories and 1001 stories. Along with this a range of workshops are planned with 16–20 young participants per activity from marginalised backgrounds to develop digital, heritage and storytelling skills.

Decision: Award grant of £165,305

WalthamWild: Waltham Forest Biodiversity Action

Applicant: OrganicLea CIC

Project description: To deliver a programme of knowledge and network building, as well as learning and engagement in partnership with nine Project Partners in LB Waltham Forest. It aims to enhance biodiversity, connect local people to natural heritage and create a physical network of biodiverse gardens and community green spaces. 

Decision: Award grant of £168,542

Pebblebeds For All – a place where people and nature thrive

Applicant: East Devon Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust

Project description: To connect people with the natural heritage of the Pebblebed Heaths National Nature Reserve (NNR) in East Devon, delivering engagement, educational and volunteering programmes. It will create one new staff and one apprentice position, providing additional engagement and outreach capacity that will reduce and mitigate risks to the natural heritage as visitor numbers increase.

Decision: Award grant of £190,768

Securing the future of Kent's Castle

Applicant: Leeds Castle Foundation

Project description: To improve the financial resilience of Leeds Castle through identifying current barriers to access, carrying out audience research and planning for future sustainability through examining their current energy usage and carbon footprint. It will offer volunteering opportunities in the garden and Castle teams to improve wellbeing amongst target groups. 

Decision: Award grant of £225,700

Project Orpheus

Applicant: The Barn Theatre Project

Project description: To focus on the Roman heritage of Cirencester and discovery of the Orpheus mosaic at Barton Farm, aiming to deliver an extensive engagement programme and two archaeological digs.

Decision: Reject

Newham Heritage Month 2024

Applicant: London Borough of Newham

Project description: To build on the success of previous years with the theme of ‘Places and Spaces’. It will train local people to collect stories from communities. 

Decision: Award grant of £249,542

The Department, Ryde – Making (things) and Connecting (people)

Applicant: Shademakers UK Arts (Trading as Shademakers UK) CIC

Project description: To restore the Grade II listed features (frontage, windows, first and second floors) of the Department, Ryde. Working with local history groups including Ryde Social Heritage Group (RSHG), other community groups and volunteers, it will digitise a new archive documenting the building’s history and deliver a programme of traditional heritage skills workshops.

Decision: Award grant of £249,950

The Cultural Restoration of Beavers through Education

Applicant: Beaver Trust

Project description: To increase awareness and knowledge of beavers through an education and community engagement programme. It will run across multiple sites where beavers have been re-introduced. 

Decision: Award grant of £250,000

Black History Month Culture Exhibition

Applicant: World Media Initiatives Community Interest Company

Project description: To encourage an understanding of the many forms of art and culture from people of black origin. The exhibition will run for two days and will take place in the city centre of Milton Keynes to footfall of over 100,000 people. There will be showcases of music, art, dances, food and fashion by people of black heritage.

Decision: Reject

GRH polytunnel project

Applicant: Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust Charitable Fund

Project description: To improve the greenspaces around Gloucester Royal Hospital and provide horticultural therapy activities for patients, staff and visitors by building a polytunnel in the hospital grounds. 

Decision: Reject

The Ten Tors Challenge 60 – History Project

Applicant: Sherborne Area School's Trust

Project description: To on Ten Tors: an annual expedition in Dartmoor. Sherborne Area School’s Trust will work with veterans and young people within the Dorset area to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Ten Tors Challenge. It aims to capture the oral histories of the original participants of the challenge, preserve the traditional equipment and develop student participant skillsets, creating a ‘Voices of Ten Tors’ booklet in the process.

Decision: Reject

Restoration of Church Organ

Applicant: Cranham PCC St James the Great

Project description: To restore the church organ and to repair damaged parts. 

Decision: Reject

Transitions – Capturing Media Art Heritage as Co-Creation Practice

Applicant: Art in Flux C.I.C.

Project description: The project seeks to document co-creating practices of contemporary media art experiences as a method for cultural heritage creation, engaging LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse communities in the documenting of them. The programme will be recorded as a documentary.

Decision: Reject 

Jeremiah – 2024 Tour & Workshops

Applicant: Jack Nicholas Dean LTd

Project description: To tell the story of the Luddite Rebellion and Pentrich Rising through a historic theatre production and to deliver public workshops for young people to develop skills in storytelling. 

Decision: Reject

Conservation and Repair of Ruined North and South Transepts of St Thomas Church

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of The Ecclesiastical Parish of St Thomas Winchelsea

Project description: To repair and conserve the north and south transepts of the church and create opportunities for learning and engagement with local people and visitors. 

Decision: Reject

The Bhangra Showdown (TBS)

Applicant: Imperial college union

Project description: To organise a Bhangra dance show involving students from across the UK. It aims to celebrate and preserve the rich cultural heritage of Punjab through dance classes and performances. 

Decision: Reject

Rose Ash coping-stones project

Applicant: Rose Ash Parochial Church Council

Project description: To replace the badly eroded gable copingstones. 

Decision: Reject

What makes us well?

Applicant: It's Not Your Birthday But CIC

Project description: To focus on the heritage of wellbeing practices in Surrey from 1790–1970, utilising Surrey History Centre’s archives. It will recruit two new staff and 10 volunteers and create and host an exhibition, an online digital wellbeing guide and a project film.

Decision: Reject

Dorchester Corn Exchange Front of House Works

Applicant: Dorchester Town Council

Project description: To carry out internal upgrades to the Grade ll* listed Dorchester Corn Exchange. 

Decision: Reject

150 centenary

Applicant: cabman's shelter fund

Project description: To repair 13 grade II listed buildings based in central London as well as to supply food and shelter to taxi drivers. It will also offer opportunities for local schools to learn about the history of the cabman's shelter fund since 1875.

Decision: Reject

Grant Increase Requests

Kerdroya; the Living Lexicon of Cornish Hedging

Applicant: Golden Tree Productions CIC

Project description: To provide support towards the creation of ‘Kerdroya’, an outdoor space made up of 440m of new Cornish hedging to be constructed in the shape of a labyrinth at Colliford Lake, Bodmin. In partnership with the Sensory Trust, iSight and Mind, the site and story of Cornish hedging will be accessible to people with physical, sensory or intellectual impairments, young people and those in disadvantaged communities.

Decision: Award grant increase of £74,736 to make a total grant of £256,376

Restoring our Heritage Bells – St John’s Piddinghoe. Our Bells & Our Future; a legacy of community and music 

Applicant: St John the Evangelist, Piddinghoe 

Project description: To restore, conserve and rehang three original bells and create an authentic peal of six through the installation of three rescued 18th century treble bells. There will be opportunities for children to learn hand bell ringing and to reflect on and record their parents/grandparents’ histories through an oral history project.

Decision: Award grant increase of £8,587 to make a total grant of £42,632