The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced the first projects to receive money under its £6m First World War: Then and Now small grants programme.

The aim of the programme is to help communities explore, conserve and share their first world war heritage.

Projects that have received funding include:

  • Blind and partially sighted groups in Wolverhampton will use a £10,000 grant to research how the war advanced ophthalmic medicine
  • Tracing Your Roots Back to Gallipoli has a £9,900 grant to research the involvement of Bolton soldiers in the Gallipoli campaign
  • The Scottish Women’s Hospitals world war one memorial has received £8,300 for people to look into the work of Scottish women, including nurses, during the conflict

Many of the Then and Now projects will also see communities research the history of their local first world war memorials.

The HLF has made other awards as part of its larger grants programmes. These include:

  • The National Children’s Football Alliance, Kent, has a £32,500 grant to explore the relationship between sport and the war by looking at the 1914 Christmas Day truce
  • A Yorkshire Film Archive programme has received £52,400 to discover the stories of the people captured on film in its first world war collection
 
Museums have also benefited from HLF world war one funding.

The Imperial War Museum London is using a £4.5m grant to create new first world war galleries. And the Tank Museum, Dorset, has an HLF grant for a £5.4m project to house 130 vehicles that are at risk because they currently housed in cramped, damp and unheated sheds.

Grants are still available for first world war projects. For more information visit the HLF website.