National Lottery Heritage Grants 

Celebrating & Sharing Weardale Heritage and History

Applicant: The Weardale Museum

Project description: To repurpose the former Methodist Chapel including the creation of an exhibition gallery and run a “Revisiting Heritage” programme of activities.

Decision: Award grant of £248,698 (63%)

The Hallé Archive: Generating Publicly Accessible Resources and Signposting Manchester's Extraordinary Musical Heritage

Applicant: Halle Concerts Society

Project description: To explore and scope options for a permanent and accessible public home for their archive through a feasibility study. 

Decision: Award grant of £249,244 (75%)

Tyne Theatre & Opera House – The Gallery Restoration Project

Applicant: Tyne Theatre and Opera House Preservation Trust

Project description: To restore the upper gallery tier with new seats and improved sightlines, increasing capacity and improving customer experience alongside continuous capital restoration projects.

Decision: Award grant of £247,500 (82%)

Pioneers of the Material World: Invention and Innovation in the Lancashire Textile Industry in the 20th Century

Applicant: British Textile Biennial

Project description: To present previously untold stories of textile invention and innovation in Lancashire through exhibitions and a new sculptural installation, co-created with the community.

Decision: Award grant of £155,220 (79%)

At War & In Peace: The WW2 Home Front and Post-War Reconstruction in Northumberland

Applicant: Northumberland County Council

Project description: To capture and represent the regional experience of the end of the Second World War and the contribution of the people of Northumberland in line with the conflict’s 80th anniversary.

Decision: Award grant of £138,030 (97%)

The Church in a Changing Landscape

Applicant: Osbaldwick & Murton Parochial Church Council

Project description: To focus on St Thomas's history by representing the identified underserved communities who are linked with the church as well as carrying out urgent repairs.

Decision: Award grant of £15,236 (100%)

The one and only Allonby Bay – England's first inshore Highly Protected Marine Area

Applicant: Cumbria Wildlife Trust Limited

Project description: To recruit a HPMA Project Officer to work on three main elements: user reassurance and opportunities, citizen science and community engagement – leading to effective protection of wildlife and habitats in the area.

Decision: Award grant of £250,000 (95%)

A Radical Re-imagining

Applicant: Unity Theatre

Project description: To begin a community theatre project with a new theatre-makers group in order to catalogue and digitalise their archive, hold heritage open days, embed original stained-glass features within their building and create a history timeline with oral histories.

Decision: Award grant of £106,708 (91%)

Humberhead Levels Community Outreach Project

Applicant: Doncaster City Council

Project description: To address the climate and biodiversity crisis in the Doncaster–Hammerhead region by accelerating nature recovery at a landscape-wide scale.

Decision: Award grant of £83,081 (100%)

Don't Mourn, Organise!: a people's history of the Kirkby Unemployed Centre

Applicant: Vauxhall Community Law and Information Centre

Project description: To document the Kirkby Unemployed Centre by training a cohort of volunteers to undertake supervised research on the history of the Centre and community activism to be later archived.

Decision: Award grant of £95,707 (100%)

Remembering and Commemorating the April 1826 Lancashire Weavers Uprising

Applicant: Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee

Project description: To enhance collective awareness of the Lancashire weavers’ uprising and Chatterton massacre by creating a set of commemorative events across heritage sites in Pennine Lancashire.

Decision: Award grant of £137,329 (100%)

Preserving the Heritage of Igbabonelimhin Dance: a cultural legacy for future generations

Applicant: Newleaf Foundation

Project description: To deliver a programme of activities to record, share and celebrate the heritage of the Igbabonelimhin Dance of the Esan community living in Manchester. 

Decision: Award grant of £91,200 (94%)

Wentworth Woodhouse – Survive and Thrive

Applicant: Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust

Project description: To ensure the survival of Wentworth Woodhouse in the immediate term, address critical business planning and statutory permissions and put the organisation on a firmer financial footing.

Decision: Award grant of £247,780 (56%)

Doctor, Doctor – Women's Stories

Applicant: Lancashire County Council

Project description: To engage in research, hold artistic workshops and produce films focusing on the GP practice and document 130 years of local healthcare.

Decision: Reject

Protecting our heritage today for tomorrow

Applicant: Comhaltas in Britain

Project description: To preserve endangered Irish traditions through workshops, webinars and residential training, creating teaching resources for an online archive and in-person workshops.

Decision: Reject

Revitalisation of Elswick's Garden Cemeteries: The Story of Westgate Hill and St John's

Applicant: Newcastle City Council

Project description: To deliver a comprehensive programme of engagement, training and feasibility studies involving local people to realise aspirations for local cemeteries.

Decision: Award grant of £176,466 (85%)

Connecting Chronicles

Applicant: Grimm and Co. Limited

Project description: To empower children and young people to capture the intangible heritage of the building that Grimm and Co. Limited operate from and use these in interactive arts projects.

Decision: Reject

The Mine is Yours – Safeguarding heritage & developing a best in class attraction at Lancashire Mining Museum

Applicant: Lancashire Mining Museum Limited

Project description: To develop the museum's visitor offer, engage audiences, increase the resilience of the governance team and volunteers and develop a deliverable master plan to preserve the site’s at-risk heritage.

Decision: Reject

Greater Manchester Nature, History and Heritage Walks

Applicant: Become United CIO

Project description: To connect communities across Greater Manchester, preserving the region's heritage and fostering environmental stewardship by bringing BAME families and women together in twelve interactive sessions and twelve heritage walks.

Decision: Award grant of £82,100 (100%)

Saving deaf young people's culture and heritage

Applicant: Deaf Experience Limited

Project description: To research, identify, demonstrate and share what Deaf culture is, comparing with mainstream deaf people's experiences, co-created by deaf young people living in West Yorkshire.

Decision: Award grant of £124,965 (100%)

Safeguarding the Smithy

Applicant: Owston Ferry Heritage Society

Project description: To repair and improve the condition of the building so it can be used as a viable heritage asset and an educational resource for the local community, promoting engagement and heritage skills.

Decision: Reject

Unveiling Roots: Cape Verde Heritage in the Shadows of the Slave Trade

Applicant: Djurtus United CIC

Project description: To capture and celebrate the heritage of the Leeds Cape Verdean community through oral history, documentation, visits, installations, education, engagement and the creation of a dedicated website.

Decision: Award grant of £97,780 (99%)

St Mary's Church, Kirkby Lonsdale – securing the future by honouring the past

Applicant: Kirkby Lonsdale Parochial Church Council

Project description: To remove cement-based pointing from the masonry, return the church clock, relocate the parish office to St Mary’s and provide interpretation of some of the key elements within the church.

Decision: Reject

Connecting to our Cameroonian Roots

Applicant: Ensemble Manchester

Project description: To engage intergenerational participants in activities that explore cultural identity, record at-risk stories and build an accessible digital archive to preserve the cultural heritage of the Cameroonian diaspora in Greater Manchester.

Decision: Award grant of £117,934 (100%)

Sefton and Bootle – Then and Now: A Heritage Project

Applicant: North and South Education CIC

Project description: To interview local people about the history of Bootle and Sefton and share their experiences via a podcast with a focus on minority and underprivileged groups.

Decision: Reject

Seven Day Week Church

Applicant: Seacombe United Reformed Church

Project description: To redevelop the main church building for use as a community centre and worship facility, providing meeting spaces and enabling full accessibility.

Decision: Reject

Celebrating African Roots in Manchester

Applicant: Manchester African Trust

Project description: To enhance the visibility of African heritage in Manchester by establishing a dedicated museum and cultural centre as well as implementing a series of activities aimed at preserving, celebrating and promoting this heritage.

Decision: Reject

Stories from the Hills, Stories from the Mills

Applicant: Awakening Arts Awakening Hearts CIC

Project description: To engage older people and schoolchildren through a series of workshops across five Pennine mill towns: Burnley, Halifax, Bradford, Bolton and Blackburn.

Decision: Reject

New Heating System

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of St Matthew's Church, Stretford

Project description: To install a new heating system in the church to make the building more efficient and reduce energy costs.

Decision: Reject

Blackburn Rovers FC: Our History in Blue and White

Applicant: The Blackburn Rovers Football and Athletic Limited

Project description: To archive, document and conserve the Blackburn Rovers FC heritage collection through a number of targeted activities.

Decision: Reject

Wild Deer Wood

Applicant: Wild Deer Wood CIC

Project description: To acquire and aim to save a neglected and under-threat 15.2-acre site located in the Beamish Valley to help preserve the natural landscape and ancient woodland.

Decision: Reject

West African Roots

Applicant: West African Development

Project description: To develop a series of events, activities and workshops to improve knowledge of African heritage and increase participation from the wider community.

Decision: Reject

The Speakeasy: The Teessiders

Applicant: Blind Tiger CiC

Project description: To capture the oral histories of residents who worked in industry across the Tees Valley, focusing on local heritage, imagery, story and song in pubs and social clubs.

Decision: Reject

Pits to Pitches

Applicant: Mid Yorkshire Community Foundation CIC

Project description: To explore the connections between sport and mining in the Barnsley area through the collection of archival material and recording of oral histories.

Decision: Reject

25/5

Applicant: Thunk-It Theatre CIC

Project description: To celebrate the heritage of Burnby Hall and the life of Katherine Stewart by retelling the narrative of the hall through her perspective to improve community awareness and engagement.

Decision: Reject

LULI UK Festival 2025

Applicant: LULI UK Festival

Project description: To hold a large-scale international outdoor celebration that honours the Celestial Church of Christ’s heritage and engage with the community.

Decision: Reject

The Afrofashion Show 2025

Applicant: Afro Fashion Show CIC

Project description: To use fashion as a platform to celebrate cultural heritage, promote sustainability and raise mental health awareness through fashion shows, workshops, educational programmes and other activities.

Decision: Reject

Your City: 100 Salford Stories, Past Present and Future

Applicant: Salford Community Leisure Ltd

Project description: To engage wider communities with Salford’s heritage through community groups and individuals selecting museum objects from acquisitions from the last 100 stories to co-produce an exhibition.

Decision: Reject

Reimagining Ashton Market Hall

Applicant: Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

Project description: To complete capital works and hold community activities to help the market evolve to meet the needs of modern-day consumers and preserve the Market Hall for future generations.

Decision: Reject

Act Your Age

Applicant: Imaginarium Theatre UK CIC

Project description: To celebrate and raise awareness of Prescot’s history as a theatre town through a series of creative heritage projects.

Decision: Reject

Grant percentage change

Theatre30

Applicant: Kirklees Theatre Trust 

Project description: Explores and documents the heritage of Lawrence Batley Theatre through oral histories, a co-curated exhibition and archival collections.

Decision: Award grant percentage change from 73% to 100% and change in total project cost from £33,162 to £24,162