Heritage Lottery Fund

Robyn Greenblatt is a businesswoman with money to give away. She is East of England regional manager for the Heritage Lottery Fund and there is some evidence that Ipswich has missed out on what could be considered a fair share of this newfound wealth. That's our fault, of course. Money is only distributed against bids received, and only then for suitable causes. There have however been some significant grants. For example Ipswich Transport Museum received £130,000 for a new roof, the catalyst for what has become regular and frequent public open days and reward for the efforts and enthusiasm of the volunteers. Ipswich Building Preservation Trust is also an occasional recipient of HLF funding and received support (£74,500) for the renovation of the Half Moon and Star at Barrack Corner. IBPT's latest project, Trinity Lodge in Back Hamlet, is subject to an application for an amount in excess of £200,000 and it is likely that renovation of 45 St Nicholas Street on the comer of Silent Street will also be subject of a substantial bid. Collectively this is still small potatoes compared with grants to projects in, for example, the North-East.

So what's next? What should we bid for? A Waterfront Visitor Attraction perse would not be eligible, but if it were to be situated in a Listed building then it would be much more likely, to meet the criteria for grant funding. The restoration of Broomhill Pool (which is Listed) is typical of the type of project that Robyn will recommend for grant aid. The money distributed by the HLF is raised throuah the National Lottery where 5p from each ticket goes to good causes, and the majority of that to heritage projects.