Foursight wins £50,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant

01 April 2008

Foursight Theatre and partners Black Country Touring (BCT) have secured a significant grant of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards The Corner Shop. Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations, and we are thrilled that The Corner Shop has gained their support.

Foursight Theatre and BCT will be working with a range of partners to uncover, document, celebrate and share stories about how corner shops in the Black Country have changed over recent decades, culminating in the production of a series of site-specific performances this autumn. Other partners involved in this ambitious and wide-ranging project include English Heritage, Sandwell Community History and Archive Service, Sandwell Museum Service, The Public, and Birmingham Archives and Heritage.

Bobby Tiwana, Project Co-ordinator for BCT, said: "We all feel very privileged to be on the cusp of something so exciting. Corner shops are changing and declining at a massive rate. The project will capture the distinctiveness and essence of corner shops in the Black Country, which will be presented in numerous ways, as well as preserved for present and future generations."

Anne Jenkins, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the West Midlands, said: "This is an exciting project which we are delighted to support. Corner shops are an important part of our local heritage and people in the Black Country will now be given the opportunity to explore and celebrate this aspect of community history.

For further information on The Corner Shop, click here and for more information on the Heritage Lottery Fund, visit their website.