Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, has encouraged community groups in Barnet to apply for lottery funding available to support local events and initiatives. She is highlighting two different streams of funding which are open to applications from Barnet, one aimed generally at bringing communities together, and the other focused on the centenary of World War One.
The Big Lottery Fund’s ‘Celebrate England’ project has grants available for between £300 and £10,000 for events such as street parties, festivals and exhibitions. Applications are open to voluntary organisations, schools and statuary bodies across England for projects that bring communities together, in particular those which involve people from different cultures or across different generations.
Meanwhile, the Heritage Lottery Fund is offering grants of between £3,000 and £10,000 up to 2019 for initiatives that commemorate the First World War. Examples of projects which could qualify for support include research on local events from the 1914-18 period, running workshops to help people uncover their family history, or discovering the stories behind the names on war memorials.
Theresa said: “We have many excellent community groups across Barnet: the people behind events like the East Barnet festival, the High Barnet classic car show, and so many others do an amazing job bringing people across the community together. Funding is available to support initiatives like these, and it is important that the word gets out.”
“As well as the importance of commemorating the sacrifice of those who lost their lives, the World War One centenary allows us a chance to examine our shared history. So far, no funding has yet been awarded to the Chipping Barnet constituency and I would encourage my constituents to make use of this unique opportunity to find out about our area’s past.”
Theresa has written to a number of local groups to highlight the opportunities available under the two lottery funded schemes. For more information, including on how to apply, go to https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/celebrateengland, and https://www.hlf.org.uk/looking-funding/our-grant-programmes/first-world-war-then-and-now.