2 May

National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000

'Soro Soke' – Essex Black Diasporans Oral History

Applicant: Over 50s Black Men Forum CIC

Project description: Based in Chelmsford, Essex, this project will collect oral histories from   older Black African men who settled in Essex in the 2000s and will discover and explore topics including migration journeys, the preservation and adaption of cultural traditions and diasporan identities.

Decision: Award grant of £94,094 (100%)

16 May

National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000

Glossop Heritage Weekend 2024

Applicant: Glossop Round Table 916

Project description: A three-day festival focusing on Glossop during World War II, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

Decision: Reject

23 May

National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000

Ten Acres Restoration Project

Applicant: Friends of Rea Valley Stirchley

Project description: To restore the natural habitat in The Ten Acres of Nature Space whilst spreading awareness of the site in the local community.

Decision: Reject

United African Association Black History Month commemoration

Applicant: United African Association

Project description: To produce a theatre performance celebrating Black history at the Royal and Derngate Theatre in Northampton.

Decision: Reject

Nottingham Games

Applicant: Nottingham Schools Trust

Project description: To create a programme to celebrate the games and rhymes that children have played in Nottingham over several generations. It will empower children as researchers to collect, collate and document games, rhymes and playground activities as a living archive.

Decision: Award grant of £23,665 (100%)

Wilder Luton

Applicant: The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire

Project description: To inspire communities in Luton to learn about their natural heritage, to acquire skills and act to protect nature locally.

Decision: Award grant of £249,856 (100%)

The Great Siege of 1224 – The Fall of Bedford Castle: a new theatrical production

Applicant: Bedford Theatre Trust Limited

Project description: To celebrate the 800-year anniversary of the siege of the medieval Bedford Castle (1224), a key moment in England's propulsion towards parliamentary rule.

Decision: Award grant of £17,155 (63%)

Sylheti Women – Taste of Home

Applicant: Zen Up CIC

To collect oral histories of 16 Sylheti women that came to Birmingham from Bangladesh during the 1970s and 1980s.   

Decision: Reject

Alvechurch Tower – tales of heritage and sawfish

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Alvechurch

Project description: To undertake capital repair works to the church tower, to remove the church from the Heritage at Risk Register and prevent further water ingress.

Decision: Defer

The Ballad of the Whistling Man

Applicant: The Irene Taylor Trust

Project description: To work with 10 serving prisoners at HMP Stafford to research and create a performance that reflects on the history of music in prisons since 1840.

Decision: Reject

Youth Landscapers Collective: Youth-Led Resilience

Applicant: Youth Landscapers Collective CIC

Project description: This project will see Youth Landscapers Collective develop its organisational resilience through improved strategic planning and governance centred around young people.

Decision: Reject

The Midlands Crayfish Partnership

Applicant: Buglife – the Invertebrate Conservation Trust

Project description: To create a network across 11 counties across the Midlands and central England of local and regional stakeholders to link up existing conservation initiatives, develop new ones, and spread awareness of the white-clawed crayfish amongst river users, the community and the wider public.

Decision: Award grant of £209,780 (69%)