Grants available to help celebrate our local history and hidden heritage

A new pot of grants has been launched by Create North East Lincolnshire from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to help back projects that showcase or celebrate our local history and hidden heritage.

Kickstarter grants of between £5,000 and £10,000 are available for organisations to help build the developmental foundations for larger ambitious heritage projects to take place in the next five years. It’s expected that these projects could be taken forward and be eligible for funding in their own right from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in the future.

The projects must focus on heritage in North East Lincolnshire and could include areas such as local history and origins, local organisations, maritime heritage, local industry, local traditions, heritage buildings and places, local legends, people, communities and stories or natural environments. 

Heritage is anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations, and could include:

• Built and tangible culture – buildings, monuments, industries, books, works of art and artefacts 
• Intangible heritage – folklore, traditions, customs & rituals, language and knowledge, legends and significant people 
• Natural heritage – culturally significant landscapes, habitats and biodiversity, connection to nature 

Projects which see active participation from underserved communities, children and young people including youth voice and less heard voices will be prioritised. 

Cllr Hayden Dawkins, Cabinet member for culture, said, “If you’ve got a great idea, but know you need a grant to help start the feasibility or viability work to see if it would make a bigger project in this area, these are the grants for you. We’re incredibly proud of our local history and want to make sure that children and families in the future grow up and know their local history too.”

Funding is available for delivery between 1 October 2025 and 31 August 2026. There are two rounds of applications, with deadlines in September and November this year.

To find out more about the grants, visit: Heritage Place Hidden Stories - Create North East Lincolnshire or come and chat to us at a drop-in on 24^th July 10-12 or 5^th August 10-12 at The Business Hive, Dudley Street, Grimsby.  You can also find out more at an online session on Wednesday 30^th July 11-12noon, details of the Teams link are on the webpage link above.