Tag: funding

Walsall’s Leather Museum Will Close, Afterall

Walsall’s Leather Museum Will Close, Afterall

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Walsall Council has announced that Walsall Leather Museum will close next year (2026), despite a stay of execution earlier this year. The Council met on Wednesday, September 24, to approve plans for purchasing a new town centre building for the museum and to sell off the existing museum building, it self a former leather works in Littleton Street West, to the nearby Walsall College.

In February a petition against any sale, closure, or relocation of the Museum attracted 6,491 signatures and hundreds of people attended a demonstration and march at the time to oppose the closure. The Council cabinet announced on February 12 that Walsall Leather Museum would remain open in its current location to allow them to meet with stakeholders, deferring any decision until 2026. However, this new decision means that the museum will close without any new premsies being identified and without a long term plan for the contents of the museum.

Further details here: ttps://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/attractions/2025/09/25/youre-destroying-the-cultural-heritage-of-walsall-by-moving-the-leather-museum-says-mp/

Walsdall Leather Museum. Image courtesy of Walsall Letaher Museum.
New ‘Spaces, Places and Belonging’ Community Hub Funding to Launch

New ‘Spaces, Places and Belonging’ Community Hub Funding to Launch

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The National Archives, in partnership with Leeds Museums & Galleries, The National Library of Wales, and the Community Archives & Heritage Group, is launching a new national grant progamme for libraries and museums called the ‘Spaces, Places and Belonging’ Community Hub.

Funded by the Arts & Humanites Research Council, the Community Hub will support inclusive, community-led, research across the UK’s galleries, libraries, archives, and museums and heritage sectors,so will be of interest to industrial heritage sites. There will be three grant schemes available, totalling £550,000 (click the blue links for more detail):

A programme of training, digital skills development, and network-building will run to support these grants. The Community Hub will also create a permanent digital platform to share resources, learning, and best practice.

Applications for Seed Corn Grants and Skills Bursaries open on the Monday 15 September 2025. There will be a launch webinar on Wednesday 17 September 2025 to take you through each grant scheme in detail, covering everything from eligibility, to assessment criteria, to budgets. There will also be a Q&A at the end to enable you to ask any extra questions you may have about this programme.

To book a place on the 17 September launch webinar follow this link to Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/spaces-places-and-belonging-community-hub-launch-webinar-tickets-1524899849499

Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants

Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants

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Arst Council England (ACE) is encouraging museums, especially museums within Priority Places, (where there are many industrial heritage sites) to apply for their National Lottery Project Grants (Project Grants) scheme. This is an open access programme for arts, libraries, and museums project funding. Grants range from £1,000 to over £100,000; they are divided into applications for under £30,000, applications for £30,001 to £100,000 and applications for £100,001 and over.

  • Unlocking Collections: This is a time limited priority, the deadline for applications has been extended until November 2025, ACE is prioritising and encouraging museums to apply for activity to develop their collections-based work and increase public engagement with, and use of, their collections. Funding could support: reinterpretation of collections; collections review; digital skills development
  • Place Partnership Fund: ACE’s Place Partnership Fund is to support partnerships that aim to make a step change in the cultural and creative opportunities in the applicants area. It’s open to everyone but may be of particular interest to organisations in ACE’s Priority Places or DCMS’s Levelling Up for Culture Places.

Further details here:

https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ProjectGrants

Lancashire Mining Museum Secures NHLF Grant

Lancashire Mining Museum Secures NHLF Grant

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The Lancashire Mining Museum at Astley, Wigan, had been awarded a grant of nearly £200,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The funding will be used to safeguard the ‘unique’ winding house of the former Astley Green Colliery in Wigan. The site’s 98ft high headgear is a prominent feature of the surrounding landscape.

The museum has also secured additional contributions from the Association for Industrial Archaeology, the Arts Council, Awards for All, the Pilgrim Trust, and Wigan Council, bringing the grant total to over £360,000. Sunk in 1908 to exploit coal reserves in the south Lancashire Coalfield, the colliery had a lifespan of only 62 years, finally closing in 1970. Because of its short and relatively recent history, a considerable number of written and photographic records have survived. The site includes a 98ft winding headgear, winding engine, colliery cottages, and a miner’s canteen.

Further details about the museum here: https://lancashireminingmuseum.lexington-staging-site.co.uk/visit-us

The Headgear at the Lancashire Mining Museum (Astley Pit). Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell.

Industrial Heritage Sites Benefit from New Conservation Grants

Industrial Heritage Sites Benefit from New Conservation Grants

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Industrial Heritage sites in England are amongst 37 heritage sites set to receive £15 million in funding as a part of the Government’s ‘Heritage At Risk’ fund. The funding will go towards repair works and the conservation of heritage buildings at risk, and is a part of the Government’s £270 million ‘Arts Everywhere Fund’. The fund has prioritised projects that will restore heritage sites serving disadvantaged communities and which demonstrate strong local benefits, from job creation to cultural events.

The industrial sites receiving funding are:

  • Woodhorn Colliery Shaft Heads, Ashington, Northumberland – £997,265 
  • National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port – £250,000
  • Treadgolds, Portsea, Portsmouth – £485,200
  • The Folk Pin Factory (Grade II), Gloucester Civic Trust – £142,871

Follow this link for further details: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/37-local-heritage-sites-to-benefit-from-15-million-boost-to-breathe-new-life-into-communities-across-england

National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, is owned and run by the Canal & River Trust. Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell.

Energy Resilience Fund 2025

Energy Resilience Fund 2025

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The Energy Resilience Fund (ERF) provides a blended funding package of loan (60%) and grant (40%) to bolster the energy resilience of eligible charities and social enterprises in England.   The Fund is the successor to the pilot Energy Resilience Fund managed by Key Fund and its primary purpose is to enable the supply of renewable energy to an organisation’s own building (s). Many industrial heritage sites may find that they qualify and are suitable for such a fund.

The Fund is delivered by a partnership made up of Social Investment Business, Big Issue Invest, Charity Bank, Co-operative and Community Finance, Groundwork UK, Key Fund, Resonance Ltd, The Architectural Heritage Fund, and The Ubele Initiative. 

Applicants must have fewer than 250 employees, £35m assets, or £40m turnover, but a turnover of more than £100,000, and be based primarily in England. For further details follow this link:

Energy Resilience Fund

Cheddleton Flint Mill to Host ‘Flint Garretaw: Music at the Mill’ Fundraising Event

Cheddleton Flint Mill to Host ‘Flint Garretaw: Music at the Mill’ Fundraising Event

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On the 28th June 2025 the Cheddleton Flint Mill Industrial Heritage Trust will be hosting a live music festival at the listed 18th century bone mill. This is a festival fundraiser to mark the centenary of the Garretaw carnival on the Caldon Canal in 1925, hence the ‘Flint Garretaw’ naming.

The festival village will be situated on the Flint Mill car park between the river and the canal with a specially built stage utilising the Mill as a uniquely lit backdrop to an afternoon and evening of music and various activities with both water wheels turning. All proceeds from this event go to the charity Cheddleton Flint Mill Industrial Heritage Trust. (Registered Charity No: 254196)

Book your place via any of the following:

Online: https://wegottickets.com/event/654925

Or in person at Cheddleton Flint Mill (open Mondays & Wednesdays).

All enquiries: flintgarretaw@gmail.com

Cheddleton Flint Mill is a fine example of a water mill that ground flint for the local Staffordshire pottery industry. The site features two listed water mills, a small museum, a period cottage, the canal, and many other exhibits. The site is open to the public and is run by The Cheddleton Flint Mill Industrial Heritage Trust which was formed in 1967.

Saving Basuto: Canal & River Trust Launch Crowdfunding Appeal to Save Historic Clyde Puffer

Saving Basuto: Canal & River Trust Launch Crowdfunding Appeal to Save Historic Clyde Puffer

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The Canal & River Trust (CRT) have launched a Crowdfunding Appeal for an urgent conservation project to save the Clyde Puffer Basuto, one of the UK’s most unique and historically important vessels.

Built in 1902, Basuto played a vital role in industrial Britain transporting iron across the country, before then coaling naval vessels during World War I, and supporting wartime efforts in World War II. With a rich and varied history, she has been a working vessel, a coal barge, and a steam-powered cargo ship. She remains one of the oldest vessels of her kind still afloat today, and is recognised as an important vessel on the National Historic Ships’ Historic Fleet Register, alongside esteemed vessels like the Cutty Sark and HMS Victory.

However, time and the elements have taken a devastating toll on Basuto. Currently sitting in the lower basin at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port, this iconic vessel is sinking and must be continuously pumped to stay afloat. Due to her construction Basuto cannot be repaired while in the water, and without immediate action she risks sinking completely, which would further damage her structure and threaten the water quality of the surrounding area. Having secured generous initial funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund to undertake this conservation effort, CRT need your help to secure the remaining funding and to raise awareness of this historic conservation effort.

To make a donation to help cover the final costs of the conservation works follow this link: Saving Basuto – a Charities crowdfunding project in Ellesmere Port by Canal & River Trust

The Basuto at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port. Image courtesy of CRT.

National Trust in Talks to Run Heartlands Industrial Heritage Site

National Trust in Talks to Run Heartlands Industrial Heritage Site

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The National Trust, Cornwall Rural Community Charity, and Cornwall Voluntary Sector Forum are in discussions with Cornwall Council over the future of the Heartlands mining heritage site at Pool in Cornwall.

The site opened in 2012 after more than £20m in lottery funding was used to regenerate the derelict mining area and retsore the listed mining pumping engine house and surrounding buildings as a visitor attraction with retail units. It was run by the Heartlands Trust, and leased from Cornwall Council, before it ran into financial difficulty, closing in January 2024. The Trust was wound up and the Council has took over the maintenance of the site, and has been seeking a partner to lease the entire site from it.

The National Trust said: “The National Trust, with partners, Cornwall Rural Community Charity (CRCC) and Cornwall Voluntary Sector Forum (VSF) are in discussions with Cornwall Council to look at how a sustainable future could be secured for Heartlands, an important cultural heritage and community site in Cornwall.”

Further details here: https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/25018765.national-trust-talks-heartlands-cornwall-lease/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8e79608rg1o

Seven Industrial Museums Share £7.25m as Part of £270m Package of Support for Museums and Heritage Venues

Seven Industrial Museums Share £7.25m as Part of £270m Package of Support for Museums and Heritage Venues

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Land of Iron, North Yorkshire. Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell

Museums, arts venues, libraries, and heritage attractions in urgent need of financial are to recieve significant Government funding. The ‘Arts Everywhere Fund’ totals £270m, and is to be shared between organisations the UK Government deems in most urgent need of financial support. It consists of both new and renewed funds for the sector.

As part of this package of support, five Industrial Heritage museums and sites will share grants from the 5th round of MEND support worth £7,253,849. These sites are:

  • Bletchley Park – £2,451,350
  • Land of Iron – £655,907
  • London Museum of Water & Steam – £2,626,277
  • Queen Street Mill – £813,115
  • Wheal Martyn Clay Works – £707,200

The £270m package of support will be targeted at organisations in urgent need of financial support to keep them up and running, carry out vital infrastructure work, and improve long term financial resilience. The support includes: 

  • A fifth round of the Museum Estate and Development (MEND) Fund worth £25 million
  • A new £20 million Museum Renewal Fund offering much-needed support to 29 civic museums  
  • An additional £120 million to continue the Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund
  • An additional £15 million for Heritage at Risk through Historic England 
  • A new £4.85 million Heritage Revival Fund
  • A 5% increase to national museums and galleries budgets  
  • Confirmation that DCMS will be providing £3.2 million in funding through the Museums and Schools Programme, the Heritage Schools Programme, the Art & Design National Saturday Club and the BFI Film Academy. 

The Association for Independent Museums (AIM) Director Lisa Ollerhead said, “We very much welcome this significant investment. It is fantastic news for the sector, not least given the pressure the public purse is under.  It also underlines the important role museums and heritage organisations play in strengthening our communities, boosting our economy and providing strong foundations for our creative industries.” 

The full announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-investment-to-boost-growth-and-cement-britains-place-as-cultural-powerhouse

The weaving shed at Queen Street Mill, Burnley, Lancashire. Image copyrighht Dr Michael Nevell.