Historic England gives grants to North West projects

The project at Peel Street Mill in Heywood is among the successful bids

Community-led projects celebrating working class histories have been awarded grants from Historic England.

Ten schemes from Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside were among the 57 successful bids.

This includes a project uncovering gravestones from Pendleton's industrial revolution along with another celebrating the history of Blackpool's African and Caribbean community.

Historic England said it wanted to "celebrate the people and places".

"These community-led projects demonstrate that heritage is all around us and accessible to everyone," Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said.

"They will highlight that wherever people live they are surrounded by historic buildings, landscapes and streets, industrial and coastal heritage that can help bring communities together."

More than 500 projects had applied for the grants, which range from £6,000 to £25,000.

Morecambe Heritage will receive £10,000 to create an exhibition exploring the lives of the people who ran bed and breakfasts

Among the successful bids is Unearthing Pendleton's Past at St Thomas's Church in Salford, which aims to reveal gravestones and shed light on the lives of the working class people behind the industrial revolution.

A project in Lancashire will also build a new archive documenting and engaging people with the heritage of Blackpool's working class African and Caribbean community.

Meanwhile, The Marshside Fog Bell project in Southport, Merseyside, will convert the empty fog bell building into a micro museum dedicated to telling the stories of saving lives along the coast.

The other successful projects include:

• The Kathleen Project in Stretford

• The Heywood's Peel Street Mill project

• Ordsall's Fault Lines project

• Navvies in Salford

• The Lost Farms of Brinscall Moors project in Chorley

• Morecambe Heritage

• Birkenhead's Working Class History

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