Culture & Heritage

Have you ever seen a pillbox? If you’ve driven around the country the answer is probably yes. Many roads pass these little concrete bunkers left over from the wall.

Do you know what pillboxes are? Many of us know these were places for soldiers to shelter from gunfire while being able to shoot back.

Do you know why they were built? Often the clue is in the location of a pillbox, overlooking a road or abridge, even a river or railway; the pillbox would have been to stop the enemy from going any further.

September sees the start of Staffordshire Library and Arts’ and Archive and Heritage’s annual Staffordshire History Festival – a two-month celebration of our local history and cultural heritage in Staffordshire and beyond. This year because of Covid-19 the festival will be taking place online!

A virtual programme of informative posts, quizzes, interesting videos, live online events, crafts and activities for children and families will be posted across the two months of the festival, many produced by our staff, volunteers and local organisations.

Closing date: 9 August 2021

Funding is provided by ChurchCare which is the Church of England's national resource to support parish churches and cathedrals to care for their buildings.

Anglican churches in England can apply for funding for the conservation of stained glass and historical plain glazing.

The maximim of a £10,000 grant are offered in partnership with the Pilgrim Trust and the Radcliffe Trust.

The application deadline is in August each year. The next deadline is 9 August 2021 for a decision in October 2021.

Sinai Park House Trust are a charitable trust (Charity # 1172341) which manages Sinai Park House and the grounds surrounding it. We make the site accessible to the general public by running guided tours and guided walks of the site and through the National Forest which surrounds it. Tours and walks are focused around the Heritage Open Days festival in September and the National Forest Walking Festival in May but opportunities for more may arise in the near future.

Staffordshire’s record office is preparing to reopen to the public from Tuesday 14 July.

The office, on Eastgate Street in Stafford will be open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for two weeks and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for a further two weeks, before resuming normal opening times from 11 August.  Saturday opening will commence from 22 August reverting back to one per month.

A Makaton choir has marked VE Day by putting together a heartwarming video of the Vera Lynn classic We’ll Meet Again.

The Shine & Sign choir, which was set up by the charity Liberty for vulnerable young people with SEND to communicate their love of music, has been rehearsing via the video conferencing site Zoom.

The choir has proved to be invaluable for some of its members who have difficulties speaking and communicating. Makaton is a special language programme which uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate.

Unfortunately due to the Covid 19 lockdown, Transforming the Trent Valley like many other organisations have had to cancel all face to face sessions until further notice. But that doesn’t mean you can’t join us for a daily dose of nature and heritage!

Keele University is offering student interns to charities and not for profits - free of charge, no PAYE, working from home on a role or project of your choice (Keele will pay the students) - there are many talented students ready to work. Funding is kindly provided by Santander Universities.

Example projects could be research, helping to locate funding sources, administration, data analysis, social media (setting up, running and even training to your staff), Marketing, or help with fundraising

Round 1: 09 April 2020 to 16 April 2020   |   Round 2: 16 April 2020 to 30 April 2020

The Arts Council are making £160 million of emergency funding available for those organisations and individuals who will need it during this crisis, and they have also changed the funding requirements for individuals and organisations currently in receipt of our funding, to help alleviate pressure on them as best they can.

Creativity is the focus of Staffordshire Day celebrations and organisers Enjoy Staffordshire are looking to hear from artists, creatives, makers, performers, poets, writers, film makers, musicians and anyone who would like to share or showcase their skills and entertain and inform the public through a schedule of live performances, virtual gallery visits/ exhibits, readings, talks and demonstrations, or interactive workshops that people could get involved in from their living room.