Places of worship in Scotland, Wales and North West of England (Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria) will benefit from a £1.9m National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, awarded to the National Churches Trust to keep historic churches and chapels thriving today, and tomorrow
The three-year programme will provide cherished churches and chapels with practical solutions to improve how their buildings are cared for and secured for the future. Financial support will be provided together with initiatives to strengthen heritage management skills and training for people who look after places of worship, investing overall in local areas’ heritage, capability and resources.
The funding will target the most critical areas improving economic and community resources, providing important benefits to places of worship and communities.
The £1.9m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund builds on ‘Treasure Ireland’, a pilot project in Northern Ireland, developed and managed by the National Churches Trust.
The Treasure Ireland project helped over 300 places of worship with grants, advice, training and resources. One of the churches to take advantage of the project was St Macartan’s – The Forth Chapel – in Augher, County Tyrone which won the UK-wide title of Church of the Year 2022.
Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:
“As the UK’s largest funder of heritage, we want to collaborate with organisations who share our vision and understand heritage and the people they support.
“Our long-term partnership with the National Churches Trust builds on our wide-ranging experience of grant-making to conserve heritage and bring new life and purpose to cherished churches and chapel buildings.
“We are delighted to be able to award the National Churches Trust £1.9m to provide much needed support to places of worship in Scotland, Wales and the North West of England.
“As we look to launch our new ten-year strategy this week, we’ve listened to what the sector and the public want. This grant will direct funding to where it’s most needed, protecting and caring for some of our most precious and fragile heritage, at the heart of communities.
“Thanks to National Lottery players, we are investing in thousands of organisations small and large to protect, conserve and celebrate the past for current and future generations”.
Claire Walker, Chief Executive of the National Churches Trust, said:
“Churches and chapels are some of our most historic and beautiful buildings. At the centre of local communities, they also provide a home for countless community support such as playgroups, drop-in-centres and warm spaces, as well as serving their core purpose as places of worship.”
“A huge thank-you to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for investing £1.9 million Cherish, a three-year project which will see the National Churches Trust supporting places of worship in Scotland, Wales and the North West of England.”
“As well as providing much needed immediate help and practical support, this partnership will allow us to develop new ways of supporting churches and chapels so that they can remain open and available, in use and valued by all.”
