Cultures and memories
![Young people reading poetry around a microphone](/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_desktop/public/media/imgs/R2R%20on%20the%20road%20poetry%20copy.jpg.webp?itok=RJ-Eprwz)
Routes2Roots project in Birmingham
These are the customs and traditions, skills and knowledge, passed down to us through generations.
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 which help to explore, save and celebrate the traditions, customs, skills and knowledge of different communities.
This cultural heritage is sometimes referred to as intangible or living heritage. This is because it is constantly changing and kept alive when practiced or performed.
We also fund projects which document and share people’s memories. This often involves capturing oral histories and ensuring they are accessible now and in the future.
Project ideas
Our funding could help people:
- research and share oral traditions, such as storytelling or local dialects
- train others in traditional skills and crafts, from dry stone walling and blacksmithing to basket weaving and textile making
- research the origins of culture, such as music, theatre or dance, and create performances influenced by past styles
- share the history and fun of celebrations, festivals or rituals with new audiences, from games and cooking to carnivals and fayres
- capture accounts of traditional knowledge or pass it on, such as woodland management or home remedies
- record the stories of ordinary people through oral histories, for example about growing up, migration or work
- retell people’s memories about a place or event, such as a long-stay hospital, the miners' strikes or the punk movement
How to get funding
If you have an idea for a project, we would love to hear from you.
![Grŵp Sgowtiaid 1af Porthaethwy yn Ennill Cefnogaeth Cronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri Sgowtiaid 1af Porthaethwy ar Bont Menai](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/explorer_scouts_at_menai_bridge_june_15.jpg.webp?itok=IQhYVCpg)
Sgowtiaid 1af Porthaethwy ar Bont Menai
News
1st Menai Bridge Scout Group wins Heritage Lottery support
The 1st Menai Bridge Scout Group has received funding for a challenging project to explore the role of Snowdonia and Anglesey Scouts and Scouting during the First World War.
![First ever local history tent at Eisteddfod A still of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/llanfair_caereinion_train_line.jpg.webp?itok=dptyUfbE)
News
First ever local history tent at Eisteddfod
In an exciting and highly anticipated first in its 154-year history, this year’s Eisteddfod will see a groundbreaking history tent unveiled.
![Lleisiau o Lawr y Ffatri Lleisiau o Lawr y Ffatri](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/ihhkyaskfvbanjwvfsmbqvurufguejutty6eaxjhw4w.jpg.webp?itok=MlEMQA_L)
Lleisiau o Lawr y Ffatri
News
Celebrating the women on the factory floor
Volunteers have been collecting stories about working in a Welsh factory, many of which have never been heard.
![Gerddi Aberglasney, Sir Gaerfyrddin. Gerddi Aberglasney, Sir Gaerfyrddin.](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/aberglasney_2_0.jpg.webp?itok=A2tTegSW)
Gerddi Aberglasney, Sir Gaerfyrddin.
News
£2.6million Heritage Lottery grants for Wales’ churches, wildlife and wells
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is investing £2.6million in projects across Wales. The National Lottery funding will provide much needed support for Wales’ heritage.
![Ail-greu Eisteddfod wreiddiol yr Arglwydd Rhys i ddathlu cwblhau ei Gastell Castell Aberteifi, Ceredigion](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/please_credit_louise_noakes_3.jpg.webp?itok=kTjH49vt)
Castell Aberteifi, Ceredigion
News
Lord Rhys’ original Eisteddfod recreated to celebrate completion of his castle
Cardigan Castle, birthplace of the Eisteddfod – Wales’ iconic cultural festival – once again saw its mighty walls filled with the sounds of traditional music and literature, as the castle played host to a celebratory concert last night (25 June).
![Bringing Waterloo to Life Painting depicting the Battle of Waterloo](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/waterloo_2.jpg.webp?itok=QYE-3sGi)
Painting depicting the Battle of Waterloo
Blogs
Bringing Waterloo to Life
As the nation marks the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, David Huse, CEO of Waterloo 200, talks about why it’s so important the battle is remembered.
News
Outpouring of love for Dylan’s words
2014 was the year the world celebrated the life and work of one of Wales’ most famous poets and Swansea’s most famous son, Dylan Thomas, one hundred years on from his birth.
News
Warm ‘welcome home’ for St Dogmaels evacuees
8 May 1945 marked not only the beginning of peacetime in Wales but for many it marked the end of a long period of uncertainty, loss and sacrifice.
News
Keeping the Local Heritage Bonds Alive
With help from HLF, a group of local volunteers helped restore the town’s ‘Bonded Store’. This ws a once closed-off building within Narberth; locked to the local community and a former store of kegs full of duty-free whisky, brandy and rum, only accessible with the opening of double locks on the
![Ariannir Catalydd Cymru - Codi Arian ar gyfer Treftadaeth gan Gronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri Ariannir Catalydd Cymru - Codi Arian ar gyfer Treftadaeth gan Gronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/vdfpsykq_400x400.png.webp?itok=BXrRoJ88)
News
Heritage groups offered free coaching to hone fundraising skills
Wales’s museums, libraries and other heritage and environmental organisations are being offered the chance to give their fundraising a major boost.
![Nodi 150 mlynedd ers Mordaith y Mimosa gyda grant Cronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri o £1 miliwn ar gyfer Canolfan yn Llanuwchllyn Eglwys Deiniol Sant, Llanuwchllyn](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/picture3.png.webp?itok=fBv4MsVv)
Eglwys Deiniol Sant, Llanuwchllyn
News
50th anniversary of Mimosa Voyage marked with £1million Heritage Lottery Grant for Llanuwchllyn Centre
HLF has awarded £1,032,700 grant towards the creation of a new tourist and heritage centre within Eglwys Deiniol Sant which will celebrate local heritage, including its connections with Patagonia.
![Cloc Goffa Rhayadr Gwy Cloc Goffa Rhayadr Gwy](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/rhayader_memorial_clocktower.jpg.webp?itok=5yttfBq6)
News
Monumental Powys-wide First World War project receives Heritage Funding
A county-wide First World War project to identify, record and restore all war memorials across Powys has received a £350,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).