National Lottery Heritage Fund: Three NI projects receive awards

Hilden Mill School in Lisburn will be transformed, with a tea room and childcare facilities

Three Northern Ireland projects have been awarded funding of more than £2m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

They include Hilden Mill School near Lisburn, St Joseph's Church in Glenullin, County Londonderry, and the Rathlin Acting for Tomorrow project.

It is the latest round of funding, with more than £24m being given to projects across the UK.

Hilden Mill School gained the highest NI award of £833,846.

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council received the grant to refurbish the school and it will work in partnership with The Resurgam Trust, which will then lease the building.

The interior of the Hilden Mill School project

The money will be used to transform the disused building into a tea room and childcare facilities for families.

The school dates back to 1913 and was built by the Barbour family to educate mill employees and their families.

Aaron McIntyre, chairman of the council's leisure and community development committee, said the local authority was committed to giving the building a new lease of life.

"We envisage it as a commercially-viable enterprise, restored in a sympathetic way, where families can come to drop off little ones and take time to enjoy the surroundings in a specially designed tearoom," he said.

St Joseph's Church in Glenullin has been awarded £584,000 and Rathlin Acting for Tomorrow - which safeguards the island's seabird population and is part of The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) - has been awarded £720,000.

Crystal Palace Park in London and The Trinity Centre in Cardiff are other sites in the UK which will also benefit from the latest round of funding.