Heritage Lottery Funding available to commemorate Armistice

Community groups who are planning to commemorate the 2018 centenary of the First World War armistice are being urged by Derbyshire County Council to get their bids in soon.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has £4 million available in the East Midlands region for First World War community projects and the county council is holding an information day in Chesterfield on Friday 16 October to help Derbyshire groups apply for some of this money.

The free day is organised as part of the council’s Derbyshire Lives through the First World War project which helps groups to develop WW1 related projects and find the money to run them.

Derbyshire County Council Deputy Cabinet Member for Health and Communities Councillor Ellie Wilcox said: “Our information day will be a great source of advice and support for groups who are organising events to remember their wartime heritage.

“It is not too early to get thinking about commemorations to mark 100 years since the First World War armistice of 1918. Our experience of helping groups to get funding suggests that the sooner they do this the better as the whole process of getting the idea sorted out and the application submitted can take some months.

“The 2018 anniversary will be the biggest of the centenary commemorations and I hope that many Derbyshire communities will be marking the day.

“We want to do all that we can to support these ideas and initiatives. They honour the Derbyshire people who were involved in the conflict – either in battle or by supporting the effort at home.”

The day is called ‘First World War: Different Perspectives’. Members of the Heritage Lottery Fund will be coming along. There will be talks from groups who have run successful projects and from First World War historians about different perspectives of the war.  For the full programme and booking details click here.