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Heritage Lottery Fund backs next stage in restoration of the Grantham Canal

The Heritage Lottery Fund has approved a development grant to the Grantham Canal Partnership of £48,000 - a grant that could lead to a 3/4 million pound investment in the next stage of the 33 mile long restoration project.

Part of the Grantham Canal Partnership project aims to capture local people’s memories, photographs and stories about the heritage of the canal.

This first award will allow the Partnership to prepare a detailed application for an innovative programme of works on the canal with a focus on heritage skill training. The eventual overall project value could be approximately £750,000 with £400,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

There are two key themes to the project; the establishment of a heritage skills training base at Woolsthorpe near Grantham, where the focus will be on lock restoration, in addition the project will provide interpretation panels and signage alongside the canal.

13 of the 18 locks on the Grantham are in various stages of dereliction. This initiative will fully restore 2 of those locks - to extend the navigable length of canal at Woolsthorpe and provide volunteers with the skills to tackle other locks along the canal and on other canals elsewhere. The training programme will be part of a national training initiative being developed by the Inland Waterways Association.

The interpretation part of the project will work with local communities (in particular their schools and the elderly) to unlock old photographs, stories and to identify heritage that has been lost. The information resourced will then be available for all, on new interpretation canalside panels.

Kevin Mann of the Grantham Canal Partnership said “This whole project is about the communities that border the Canal, their memories, their history and what gave the canal its life. Local people will be learning how to restore a lock, to point up brickwork, how to re-use old materials and have an enjoyable time in the process”.

The final focus of the project will be to attract new volunteers from further afield and from a wider cross - section of people, particularly from Nottingham and Leicester.

Michael Stone the chairman of the Grantham Canal Society said “We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has approved this grant. It will provide volunteers with the skills to move the restoration of the Grantham Canal and other canals forward”.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation’s heritage for everyone to enjoy. Since 1994 it has supported more than 26,000 projects, allocating over £4 billion across the UK. www.hlf.org.uk

The Grantham Canal Partnership is the umbrella organisation of bodies committed to the restoration and regeneration of the canal, as a 33-mile linear country park for all.

Its membership is:

British Waterways and the 6 local authorities through which the canal flows: Lincolnshire County Council, South Kesteven District Council, Leicestershire County Council, Melton Borough Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Rushcliffe Borough Council

Natural England.

And the two volunteer bodies:
Inland Waterways Association
Grantham Canal Society.

“The purpose of the Partnership is to promote the sustainable restoration of the Grantham Canal to full navigable status, doing so in such a way as to conserve its character and the environment and enhance its character and the environment and enhance the communities along its 33-mile corridor.”