Community heritage

Community heritage

A group of people with handmade props and decorations
Act for Action CIC, recipients of a community heritage grant from One Knowsley. Photo: Act for Action CIC.
Celebrating community heritage can help people come together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.

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.

A mannequin covered in photos and documents. Volunteers created the 'Wo-Mannequin' from photos of the research, visits and materials they collected during the project
Volunteers created the 'Wo-Mannequin' from photos of the research, visits and materials they collected during the project

Projects

Investigating South Tyneside womens' roles in the First World War

Women’s Health in South Tyneside spent a year discovering the profound role women playing during the First World War in their area.

1st Menai Bridge Scout Group
1st Menai Bridge Scout Group finding out about the scout leaders who went to fight in the First World War.

Projects

The Snowdonia and Anglesey Scouts and the First World War

1st Menai Bridge Scout Group are running a two-year project in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the closure of several local scout groups as their leaders and many scouts went to fight in the First World War.

Jacket of Free to be Me book
Free to be Me, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Freedom Youth

Projects

Freedom Youth: the first 20 years

Freedom Youth is Bristol's oldest LGBT youth group. They marked their 20th anniversary by recording and interpreting the stories, memories and experiences of past members.

A group of black and white archive images featuring people with disabilities in the workplace.
A collection of images from the QEF archive.

Projects

Attitudes towards disability and employment

The Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People created an exhibition aimed at changing attitudes towards people with disabilities in employment.

Women in World War I: The Welsh Experience
Margaret Ann Lloyd and friend at Mannesman Ammunitions

Projects

Women in World War I: The Welsh Experience

This 12-month project focused on the hidden histories of women in the First World War. It marked the Centenary of 1915 – the year when women were first actively encouraged to undertake work traditionally performed by men.

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