Communities of worship, or communities of governance? Government funding, historic churches, and opportunities for association

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Abstract

This article explores the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) goal of “strengthening communities” through its grant aid programmes with reference to a particular scheme, the Grants for Places of Worship (GPOW) programme, which ran from 2013 to 2017. The HLF (now renamed the National Lottery Heritage Fund) is the major funder of heritage projects in England, and although its work has been a subject of some academic interest, it remains curiously neglected in some quarters. This article uses interviews with members of parochial church councils who had been through the process of applying to the GPOW scheme to explore the experiences of community groups managing heritage through grant-aided phases of repair. It argues that although the funding provided by the HLF was welcomed by its recipients, the scheme placed a heavy burden on a small number of people to the end of achieving a public policy goal that is not easily measured.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationLes communautés patrimoniales (Heritage Communities)
EditorsMyriam Joanette, Jessica Mace
PublisherPresses de l'Universite du Quebec
Pages91-112
Number of pages22
ISBN (Electronic)9782760552388
ISBN (Print)9782760552364
Publication statusPublished - 13 Nov 2019
Event12th International Conference of Young Researchers in Heritage - Montreal, Canada
Duration: 27 Sep 201729 Sep 2017
Conference number: 12

Conference

Conference12th International Conference of Young Researchers in Heritage
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityMontreal
Period27/09/1729/09/17

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