Changing Chalk Community Grants Scheme
Thanks to the National Trust and The National Lottery Heritage Fund grants totalling nearly £150,000 have been awarded in total since June 2023 to Sussex Community organisations.
Changing Chalk - Community Grants Scheme
The Changing Chalk Community Grants Scheme supports grassroots community-led initiatives that help to restore lost habitats, bring local histories to life, and provide new experiences in the outdoors. In partnership with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the scheme has awarded almost £150,000 to local initiatives over the course of the Changing Chalk project and is now closed to new applications.
All of the successful applicants demonstrated how their projects would benefit local communities and support the Changing Chalk partnership’s overall vision of creating a sustainable future for the eastern South Downs. The projects have included history, heritage and nature programmes to connect young people with the Downs, and arts and nature initiatives to improve mental health, as well as projects that prioritise nature and habitat conservation. Congratulations to all of the worthy recipients of the grant.
You can read more about these successful projects below.
Act On It
Act On It uses drama to improve the lives of others and to provide a voice for the marginalised and under-represented. Workshops for young people engage, build skills and knowledge and improve well-being and social inclusion.
They will use their grant to connect local young people impacted by poor mental health with the South Downs and the culture inspired by the landscape. The project harnesses the transformative power of online drama workshops to delve into and interpret various forms of art inspired by walks on the South Downs. By exploring paintings, literature, music and folklore, participants will experience the mental and emotional benefits akin to taking an actual walk on the Downs ….and all from the comfort of their own homes.
Albion Life
Albion Life will be using their grant to buy tools and equipment so volunteers can create and maintain chalk grassland wildflower habitats for bees, butterflies and other insects in their local community.
Art Reach
This grant will enable a group of individuals to explore their local environment and interact with their landscape. They will learn practical and creative carving skills in a safe and bonding workspace, to effect the transformation of both raw materials and themselves.
Brighton and Hove Museums – Royal Pavilion Museums Trust
The grant will allow the bringing together of historical knowledge of flora, fauna and biodiversity from across the South Downs and preserved at the Booth Museum, with the creative cultural production of Archival Artist and Community and Organisational Poet, Pauline Rutter.
Brighton & Hove Music for Connection
A Community Interest Company specialising in providing participatory music opportunities for people of all abilities and backgrounds to connect and create through making music together, for wellbeing, social inclusion, and community building. The grant will enable them to create a series of accessible and restorative interactive listening walks that connect local urban communities to the nature and heritage of the Downs.
Brighton Young Archeologists Club
Joining Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society and Bevendean History Group they will explore the story of Bevendean as a Downland farm settlement. There will be a community excavation at Farm Green in the Summer 2025, exploring a sixteenth century farmstead. They will also run an Open Day event, at the park in Farm Green, with displays, talks, activities and performances celebrating of local heritage.
Members of Brighton YAC will create an interactive map, to share their Bevendean discoveries with the community.
Coldean Community Organisation
The project invites local residents to Coldean Commons to volunteer and receive training about chalk grassland, creating a self-sustaining culture of conservation. The project is centred around restoring and enhancing an area of species rich chalk grassland covering roughly 0.7ha, which form two large glades behind Varley Halls, in Coldean.
The Devonshire Collective CIC
A cultural and community organisation re-animating a network of ex-retail sites in the Devonshire ward, Eastbourne. The project will deliver a youth engagement programme focused on co-creation and participation, that will form part of Simon James’ exhibition ‘Neolithic Cannibals’. In collaboration with young people and the educational advocacy group Class Divide they will use sound and archaeological history to explore neolithic causeways and settlements in the South Downs.
The Drug of Art
An initiative aiming to encourage creative expression to help support young people’s mental health, combating the isolation and loneliness. The aims are to build confidence, curiosity, creativity, emotional wellbeing/expression, resilience and a lifelong love of learning in children and young people. Local young people and families will explore, experiment and engage in playful art making using naturally foraged and found materials throughout the year.
Friends, Families and Travellers
A national leading national charity that works to end racism and discrimination against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and to protect the right to pursue a nomadic way of life. The grant will help run a community archiving project focused on the heritage and contemporary lived experiences of Gypsies and Travellers in the South Downs and urban fringes. This project will make our local historical record more inclusive and democratic and create vital space for young people from the Travelling communities to share their stories on their own terms.
Friends of Old Shoreham
The group aims to protect and improve the natural and built environment of Old Shoreham through community action; and provides a local forum for social, economic and environmental well-being. The project will involve the members of the local community in gathering and presenting a detailed contemporary multi-media snapshot of our natural and built environment through five interlinked activities: a virtual heritage trail; a habitat and biodiversity survey; a parish map; a banner for Old Shoreham and an Old Shoreham soundscape.
Friends of Wish Park
The network of B-Banks across Brighton & Hove form important stepping stones for pollinating insects across the City. Improving the quality and variety of the wildflowers on the B-Bank will increase the diversity of invertebrates using the bank. This grant will enable the regeneration of the B-Bank in Wish Park, Hove, which was created over a decade ago. It will be used to buy plants from the local Wildflower Conservation Society as well the installation of a new interpretation board to share information about the flora and fauna of the bank to the public visiting the park. The new board will encourage visitors to be aware of the B-Banks importance as part of the chain of banks across the city.
The Grow Project
The Wellbeing in West Sussex project provides an eight-week programme for residents in the Shoreham and Adur area who are struggling with poor mental health. They offer activities to connect people with nature and the rare chalk grassland habitat of the South Downs, including guided nature walks, meditation and mindfulness in nature.
As well as this, they will also be working with young people from the Esteem project in Shoreham. They will co-develop a nature-based programme tailored to their needs. Activities will include guided nature walks, wildlife identification, bushcraft, mindfulness, creative sessions, and animal connection. Additionally, the project will introduce young people to nature-friendly and regenerative farming practices at Truleigh Hill.
Little Green Pig
A community group will explore the history of Saddlescombe Farm on the South Downs with a group of children from under-resourced Brighton communities, focusing on bringing to life lesser told tales.
Love Our Ouse
The group will run ‘The Winterbourne Festival’. A series of events and a poetry booklet to celebrate, learn and act for the globally rare Winterbourne chalk stream that runs through Lewes town organised by Love our Ouse. The project combines various artforms and event formats for a variety of the local community to take part in drawing upon the stream’s rich history, heritage, ecology and natural features.
Lullabies For the Exhausted
The mini retreats invite people of global majority communities who experience intersectional marginalisation to seek collective well-being and solidarity in their surrounding landscape. They aim to create a joyous space, build on connections to wider communities, embrace the natural local landscape and build a foundation to recalibrate and creatively rest. The mini retreats will culminate in a community celebration to share experiences with friends, family and extended community.
Marlborough Productions
The project developed practical support for members of the local QTIPOC (queer, trans and intersex people of colour) communities through a range of wellbeing and nature connection activities in the South Downs.
The Network of International Women, Brighton and Hove
The project aims to help international women in Brighton and Hove, especially refugees and those from minority ethnic backgrounds, enjoy, learn about and look after the heritage of the South Downs, and encourage them to visit these areas with their families and friends. Sessions will have a transformative effect on the women's wellbeing, many have never been out of Brighton to experience the wonderful countryside on our doorstep.
Newhaven Art Club
A celebration of the chalk landscapes that defines our coastline and countryside. Through art, photography, and community events, they aim to bring people together to explore, create, and connect with this extraordinary terrain. For over 6,000 years, the South Downs and Sussex cliffs have shaped history, inspiring artists, poets, and storytellers. From ancient flint tools to the works of Eric Ravilious and Eric Slater, the chalklands have always been a source of creativity. Now, through exhibitions, workshops, guided walks, and interactive experiences, they continue this tradition—turning the landscape into a living, breathing gallery.
Project Art Works
Project Art Works will provide opportunities for neurodivergent people from the local area to connect with nature and take inspiration from the countryside, through a series of field trips, which will inform their creative practice.
Samphire Brighton & Hove CIC
Hearts and Flowers is an organic flower growing initiative that offers a welcoming space for local people to come and take part in activities that are designed to boost mental and physical health. The project is based at a one-acre site at Stanmer Organics.
Walks Of Wisdom
The group will run a nature-connection and creative-community initiative that will provide inclusive nature-based experiences for marginalised communities in Brighton and Hove. This project offers guided walks, creative workshops, and seasonal celebrations designed to deepen participants' connection to the Sussex landscape while promoting physical activity, mental well-being, and social engagement.
In addition to fostering a sense of identity, cultural heritage, and belonging, the initiative integrates mindfulness practices and stress-relief techniques into outdoor events, emphasising mental health.
The Wildflower Conservation Society
The group will use the grant to purchase tools and equipment and recruit more volunteers. This will increase their capacity for growing native Sussex wildflowers to help restore and improve the chalk grassland of the South Downs.
Wildwood Heritage
Through its project they will celebrates Beachy Head’s heritage as an international communications hub. The group will survey, record and map the archaeology and history of the area to explore and share how these communications over the ages impacted the communities who lived on the Downs.
Wild Purpose
They will be running a personal growth and wellbeing programme in Brighton & Hove for young adults aged 18-24 who are not currently in education or work. The grant will provide the opportunity for young adults to connect with nature, provide practical tools for stress reduction and resilience building, time to identify their strengths and gain valuable life skills for future learning or working.
Wild Walks
By producing a map booklet, downloadable PDF & website, along with expertly guided walks, Wild Walks will enable local people of Moulsecoomb & Bevendean to confidently explore, learn more and connect with their wonderful local downland. As a result of this deeper connection we aim to create a renewed sense of belonging and enthusiasm to be guardians of the land.
I am delighted that the Changing Chalk Partnership, led by the National Trust, can support these wonderful community-led initiatives. Linking our urban communities to the natural beauty, heritage and history of the South Downs is something that the Trust and its partners are passionate about. I hope the Changing Chalk Community Grants Scheme will, over the years, allow more people to appreciate, enjoy and help to protect the amazing countryside that is right outside our doors here in Sussex.
It’s fantastic to see the first community grants awarded – they help communities across the South Downs to connect with the nature on their doorsteps. Projects like these highlight the importance of organisations coming together to make a real difference, sharing a common goal to protect our natural heritage, and saving it for everyone’s future. At the Heritage Fund, we are committed to helping support nature’s recovery and are proud to be working with the National Trust along with the wider partnership team on this project.”
Volunteering with Changing Chalk
Find out how you can get involved with the many Changing Chalk projects and help create a sustainable future for the eastern South Downs.
Changing Chalk events and activities
There are regular Changing Chalk activities to get involved with, including archaeological digs, nature walks, heritage events and history talks. Some are regular events and others, like the summer festivals, are one-off. But whatever the season, there's always plenty to do to enjoy and celebrate the chalk grasslands of the eastern South Downs.
All in a day's volunteering with Changing Chalk
Find out what is involved in a typical day's volunteering with some Changing Chalk projects aiming to protect our chalk grasslands for today and all our tomorrows in the eastern South Downs.
