Latest AIM Pilgrim Trust conservation grants awarded

The three grant schemes developed in Partnership with Pilgrim Trust, deliver funding support to organisations that may lack the confidence or expertise to apply to a major funder directly, whilst also underlining the importance of using professional conservation expertise.

The latest round of applications closed on 31 March 2022. 38 applications were received, a 60% increase on Spring 2021.

Out of the 38 applications that were received, 27 were awarded funding. An additional £5,000 was added to the original £62,500 budget to help meet the increased demand for support.

Audit grants awarded

Each of the following has been awarded £1,100 for an audit from an ICON conservator:

• Ushaw
• Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum
• Heugh Battery Museum
• British Schools Museum
• The Keep, Dorchester
• Devil’s Porridge Museum
• Cleveland Ironstone Museum (Land of Iron)
• Foxton Canal Museum
• Richmond Museum
• Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life (medium museum awarded £1,489)
• The Stained Glass Museum (medium museum awarded £2,024.38)

Collections Care grants awarded

Anesthetists Heritage Centre – £5,316.50 – Beyond the can: Bringing film back to life. Professional conservation advice is required to audit the 16 and 18mm film collection. The storage recommendations will then be acted upon and the films at risk, disgitised.

Bakewell – £2,986.74 – Understanding our Environment. Purchase of environmental monitoring equipment to enable the museum to improve collections management.

Crofton (Kennet and Avon Canal Trust) – £3,225 – Conservation training and equipment for Crofton Beam Engines. Following a recent AIM Pilgrim Trust funded audit, the organisation have devised a project that will enable them to act upon the recommendations.

Keswick – £965 – Preparing for the Future: Stepping up Keswick Museum’s Collections Care. Purchase of an emergency response kit and tiny tag monitors.

Dean Heritage Centre – £6,846 – Collection Care Improvements. The museum are seeking funding for a targeted collections audit with a conservator, the purchase of collection care equipment and training costs.

Fairlynch Museum – £906.42 – Replacing boxes, allowing the organisation to pack safely a rare costume collection. Funds are sought to pay for Ryder boxes and acid free tissue to replace 60 boxes currently housing textiles.

Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum – £5,891.86 – Conservation improvements to the exhibition cases and store rooms. Funding is sought for basic preventive conservation monitoring equipment and packaging supplies so they can act upon the recommendations of their recent audit.

Deal – £980 – Drying out the museum – the purchase of two dehumidifiers.

Remedial Conservation grants 

Gunnersbury Park Museum – £4,910 – The museum is seeking funding to conserve and mount a silk wedding dress. Once conserved it would then be displayed for up to 4 years as part of the museums ‘Arrivals’ exhibition.

Museum of Leathercraft – £4,000 – Consolidation of 16 gilt leather panels. The leather panels are rare and the treatment of them will help inform leather conservation in the future.

York Army Museum – £540 – The preservation of artefacts exhumed with the remains of two WW1 soldiers of the West Yorkshire Regiment killed in action in France in April 1918. The project’s aim is to preserve three objects currently on display in the York Army Museum permanent exhibition: a WW1 Brodie helmet, a water bottle and part of a WW1 rifle (part of muzzle and firing mechanism).

Glencoe Folk Museum – £5,000 – Conservation of the coffin boat, a popular exhibit and one of 3 survivors. The boat dates to the late 19th/ early 20th century and helps tell the story of the Highland tradition of clan burials. The conservation of the boat is a high priority in the museums conservation plan.

Coldharbour Mill – £4,000 – Following an AIM Pilgrim Trust funded audit in 2017, a rare collection of 100 textile sample books were prioritised for treatment and display. The museum has sought expert conservation advice and are seeking funds to enable the most important/damaged books to be professionally conserved, and to clean and pack the remaining part of the collection using volunteer support under the guidance of the conservators.

Nairn Museum – £524 – funding to conserve three pieces of ephemera; a sign, a picture and a calendar.

Penmaenmawr Museum – £874 – funding to conserve two books that are very important to Penmaenmawr’s history. Both books are in an unstable condition and the museum is not able to put them on display.

Armagh Robinson Library – £5,000 – Conserving 33 treasures from the Rokeby collection of prints. The print collection includes rare examples and once conserved they can be used in a scheduled temporary exhibition.

Find out more 

The AIM Pilgrim Trust conservation grants have been running since 2008. Applications for Pilgrim Trust grants are considered every 6 months, with awards being made 8 weeks after the closing date for applications.  The spring round closes at the end of March and the autumn round at the end of September – the next round closes on 30 September 2022.

Click here to find out how you can make an application>>

AIM members continue to be extremely grateful for the continued support that the Pilgrim Trust conservation funding offers. The funding has enabled objects to be conserved, better cared for, displayed, and enjoyed by museum visitors once again.

Click here to read case studies from previous grant recipients>>