The Big Lottery Fund’s Celebrate England grant scheme has opened to applications from community groups and organisations that want to hold one off events or activities which celebrate their local community. 
The Big Lottery Fund’s Celebrate England Grant scheme has been set up in response to a YouGov poll where 60% of respondents said that they could not remember ever coming together to celebrate anything with their community. Big Lottery are offering £3.875 million in Celebrate funding to change this.
The scheme will provide grants of between £300 and £10,000 to enable voluntary or community organisations, schools and statutory bodies to hold one off events and activities which give their community the chance to come together to mark something important, such as the Queens 90th Birthday, commemorating a local historic event or getting to know the neighbours better.
Eligible projects will need to demonstrate that they are open to everyone in the local community.
Priority will be given to applications which show:
• Communities coming together to celebrate and share their diverse cultures
• That the proposed activity is something that the local community wants and is led by people within the community
Applications can be submitted at any time and are open on a 'first come, first served' basis until the funding is exhausted.
For further information and to apply, visit: https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/celebrateengland