In this climate of cuts and cost savings it is great to have some positive news. Perhaps as a reaction to economic uncertainty the number of lottery tickets sold has greatly increased. This increase is part of the reason that the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) annual budget has risen from £180 million in 2007 to an amazing £300 million in 2012.

So why am I telling you all this? As part of the review of the direction of HLF’s work they are running an online consultation until 26 April. If you have any interest in heritage please take the time to respond.

Heritage is a very broad term and ranges from museums and collections to landscape scale projects protecting our natural heritage. A new potential area of funding is digital only work, such as putting archives online. As an innovative and tech savvy crowd I would love your views to be added to the debate. Don’t worry if you don’t feel you know much about heritage as it isn’t a test of your knowledge. The wider the range of responses the better.

You can find details of the consultation at www.hlf.org.uk/consultation2011 Thank you!