Every year the Mountain Heritage Trust needs to raise around £60,000 to ensure the ongoing safety and accessibility of the collections in our care. Usually this comes through a grant from the British Mountaineering Council and direct fundraising at events and festivals. In this, our 20th anniversary year, these have all been reduced due to the unprecedented coronavirus situation.
We've got big plans to develop our organisation and share and develop our historic climbing and mountaineering collections in new and exciting ways - but to do this we're going to need your help.
We've successfully bid for a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund Emergency Fund which has allowed us to bring back our Collections Manager from furlough for a few months. We are now planning a major three-year project to transform our organisation, catalogue all of our collections, and share stories in new and exciting ways - working with partners, involving volunteers and talking to audiences. We will be looking to relaunch the new and improved Mountain Heritage Trust in 2024 with a landmark exhibition (details to follow!).
Lynn Robinson, British Mountaineering Council President, 2020, Mountain Heritage Trust film
To fund this project we will be making a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. To support this, we are looking for £10,000 of this bid's required match funding to come directly from the community our collections represent: the rock climbers, the mountaineers, the indoor climbers, the outdoor climbers, the boulderers, the researchers, the readers, the mountain lovers.
If you've ever looked at a mountain view or a rock face and been moved by these glorious natural landscapes, the Mountain Heritage Trust has tales to tell that will inspire that same sense of wonder - the history in our care is there for you. But we can't share those stories without support. In the words of one the outstanding figures of British mountaineering:
Sir Chris Bonington, 2020, Mountain Heritage Trust film
You can also make a regular donation of any amount - if every UK climber and mountaineer gave just £1 per year we could cover all our basic costs and run a special project each year!
All donations large or small will help to preserve and share Britain’s incredible mountain heritage. Thank you for your support.