Community heritage
![Visiting the 1950s hairdresser at Beamish Museum. Credit: Nigel Roddis The interior of a 1950s hairdresser's shop. A visitor is having their hair styled by a stylist in vintage clothing. A child sits in a high chair next to the visitor.](/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_desktop/public/media/imgs/Visiting%20the%201950s%20hairdresser%20at%20Beamish%20Museum%20credit%20Nigel%20Roddis%202.jpg.webp?itok=9ra5SSfo)
Since 1994 we have awarded £460million to more than 24,100 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.
What do we support?
We fund projects that are researching, conserving and celebrating the heritage of a community or place.
These projects could include lots of types of heritage, such as people celebrating living customs or improving a historic green space. What's most important is that the project involves and benefits the community.
Project ideas
Our funding could help people:
- research the impact of a historical event on their town, and share their findings through displays, talks and online
- investigate the names on a war memorial
- crowdsource documents and photographs linked to the LGBTQ+ 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
For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.
How to get funding
If you have an idea for a project, we would love to hear from you.
Projects
Great Yarmouth Winter Gardens - Reimagining the People's Palace
Great Yarmouth Borough Council is restoring the UK’s last surviving Victorian ironwork seaside winter gardens.
Projects
A lido revolution: championing outdoor swimming
The Pooling Resources project, led by Future Lidos, has developed and delivered a digital toolkit to support the revival of lidos across the UK.
News
Hundreds of special heritage offers across the UK this spring
![People wear colourful clothes and hold banners and rainbow flags at Isle of Wight Pride.](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/isle_of_wight_pride._credit_hector_manchego.jpg.webp?itok=j9Q4cGaV)
Stories
LGBTQ+ heritage organisations share their advice on how to run great projects
![People look at an exhibition of LGBTQ+ people's stories](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/out_on_an_island_exhibition_smaller.jpg.webp?itok=0q7Dx2OR)
Projects
Out On An Island: 100 years of Isle of Wight LGBTQ+ oral histories
StoneCrabs Theatre collaborated with the community on the island’s first LGBTQ+ oral history project.
![A Pride parade on the Isle of Wight](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/isle_of_wight_pride_5._credit_hector_manchego.png.webp?itok=DL8YcRcD)
Projects
Pride In Self, Pride In Place: the NHS and LGBTQ+ culture on the Isle of Wight
StoneCrabs Theatre is gathering oral histories to uncover the role of the NHS in the Isle of Wight’s LGBTQ+ culture between 1980 and 2000.
Projects
Kingswood Park receives £2.6million for restoration
Kingswood Park in South Gloucestershire is the only significant local green space for its community.
![Helen Featherstone, Director of England, North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund A head and shoulders image of Helen Featherstone](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/helen_featherstone_headshot_c_roth_reed_photography.jpg.webp?itok=8mMqumzP)
Blogs
A year as Director of England, North: resilience and saving heritage
Projects
I Me Us Boundless: sharing stories of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people in Cumbria
Through the collection of stories, this project will document the lived experiences of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people in Cumbria.
![Leaders of the project pose for a group photo](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/microsoftteams-image_2.png.webp?itok=T0Lsck_M)
Projects
Creating Northern Ireland’s LGBTQ+ heritage archive
A collaborative effort will record and share Northern Ireland’s modern LGBTQ+ history.
Programme
National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000
Programme