This week, I attended an event in Parliament hosted by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to learn more about the impact of National Lottery investment in Cheadle and where it ranked on the Royal Society for the encouragement of Art’s (RSA) 2016 Heritage Index.

The Heritage Index indicated Stockport could do a lot better with the extraordinary amount of heritage and heritage activity that goes on in our communities.

With research showing that places which do most with their heritage have a higher quality of life than areas which have low levels of activity I will be working hard to make more of our heritage.

As well as inherited physical assets such as battlefields and castles, the index measures new forms of heritage activity like community initiatives and volunteering. With strong community groups like Cheadle Civic Society, and the fantastic efforts from everyone in the community restoring Bramall Hall I know there is a great deal of willingness to improve our local heritage.

The index shows that we have so much potential to make more of our heritage in Cheadle, and so I would urge people to think about the local heritage where they live, and perhaps apply to the HLF to undertake a project to explore it further.

The event was part of National Lottery in Parliament, to demonstrate how National Lottery players’ money is changing people’s lives and improving the nation’s wellbeing.

Since The National Lottery was started by John Major in 1994, the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded over £1.8 million to projects in Cheadle, including more than £1.6 million for the restoration of Bramall Hall.

Is there a project which you think the Heritage Lottery Fund could help in Cheadle? Find out more about accessing National Lottery funding for heritage projects at www.hlf.org.uk. Do get in touch with my office or email me at [email protected] to let me know if there is anything that I can do to help with an application or to update me on your progress.