National Lottery awards £24m to heritage sites

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded heritage sites across the UK more than £24m in grants as part of its new 10-year funding strategy.

The money is intended to future-proof a variety of attractions, ranging from Grade I-listed dinosaur sculptures at Crystal Palace Park in South-East London to the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford.

Crystal Palace Park will get £304,000 in development funding ahead of a wider £5m regeneration project award.

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The initial amount covers the first phase of the project – lasting around 14 months – which involves restoration work on the park’s 170-year-old dinosaur sculptures, the creation of a new dinosaur-themed playground, and an information centre, before checks are carried out and the second stage of the project is set to begin.

In Penzance, Cornwall, the Gardeners’ House has received more than £2m to create a new green community hub to encourage environmental education and wellbeing.

The John O’Groats Mill in Scotland has been awarded approaching £1.6m for restoration work. In Northern Ireland, The Hilden Mill School has received more than £800,000 to transform the disused building into a tearoom and childcare facilities for families in and around Lisburn.

And the Trinity Centre in Cardiff has received £892,000 to fund wide ranging improvements to the former Trinity Methodist Church which will better support the work currently being done by 24 different groups in the centre, the majority of which focus on enabling refugees and asylum seekers access support services, clothes and food, as well as language lessons and other social activities.

Meanwhile, the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford has been awarded £3m, while other awardees include the Piece Hall in Halifax (£650,000) and the Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage in Leicester, which has received £700,000.

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “We’re delighted that thanks to players of the National Lottery, we can save much-loved heritage like Crystal Palace Park all over the UK, and create benefits for people, places and our natural environment.”