12 years ago, UK heritage was at a critical point. Many urban parks had degenerated into unattractive, unsafe places. Historic buildings stood empty and neglected. Nature conservationists knew what needed to be done to save threatened habitats but often had little chance of putting these plans into action. Museums in the UK faced a crisis of under funding. Countryside, buildings and museums were dealt with by different organisations with a different remit and different grant schemes.

A historic building in a park containing an important collection would have been forced to seek funding from several different agencies, none of them well funded. Many groups such as youth organisations, minority groups and local communities didn’t have anywhere to turn for funding heritage projects and as a consequence were not able to get involved in their heritage.

Together lottery players, grant recipients and the Heritage Lottery Fund are helping to turn this situation around.