Boom! Widnes chemistry museum wins over £1m in funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Catalyst Science Discovery Centre and Museum in Widnes, Cheshire, has been given £1m by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help it educate and excite an even wider audience about the relevance of chemistry, the town’s chemical heritage and how this has shaped modern life today.

A charity launched in 1987, Catalyst celebrates the local chemical industry heritage and its influence at home and around the world with unique initiatives, hands-on experiences and rich industrial heritage archives. Catalyst welcomes visitors from local area and beyond, with special events for schools, families, and SEN groups all year round.

The £1,009,930 Heritage Fund grant will be used to create eight new jobs in the area, help refurbish parts of the museum and fund an extensive activity plan that will ensure an enhanced experience for the local community and visitors.

Nikki Mallott, CEO at Catalyst said: “Widnes is proud of its chemical heritage. The industry that developed here has had a significant impact on the chemical industry worldwide and on the products we use every day. It has shaped the town, the wider North West region and the rest of the world and we’ll be using this funding to help more people understand not only its inception, but its relevance to the modern world.

“We believe we are the only museum in the UK dedicated to chemistry and by offering an immersive experience for schools, families and communities, we’re able to engage with guests about science, the history of science and what it means for industry. As a charity, we get no government or local authority funding, so this money is transformative in helping us to reach more people with our story.

“The future development of Catalyst will be made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and thanks to the National Lottery players, we will be able spread the word about the rich history of chemistry in the region and the influence it continues to have today.”

Catalyst will use half of the £1m grant to refurbish two floors of the museum to showcase the history and heritage of the chemical industry from the 1800s to the present in a fresher, more engaging and more accessible way. This includes the top floor Observation Gallery with its 360° views of the surrounding area, (including the River Mersey and two Halton bridges) which will be revamped with brand new interactives such as audio handsets.

A proportion will be used to digitise the important and extensive Archive to both protect and make more widely available in digital form. 

The remainder of the grant has been earmarked for an extensive activity plan including workshops, events, open days and resources aimed at connecting audiences to the chemical industry in a new and meaningful way.

“Local people and groups had a great deal of input into the bid to ensure it represented what they wanted to see. Catalyst is both a visitor destination and a community hub. We want locals to see our café and exhibition space as a place to come together and connect over industry, heritage and everything else they have in common,” adds Nikki.

Catalyst is one of the 15 life-changing, diverse projects to be given a total of over £30 million by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to mark the organisation’s 30^th anniversary.

The 15 projects being funded will provide opportunities for local communities to learn heritage skills, positively impact the environment and biodiversity, and promote the regeneration of the UK’s built heritage. Combined, they will directly supply 87 jobs and apprenticeships and over 620 volunteer roles amounting to over 10,000 volunteer hours. Visitor numbers are set to increase across the board, with a forecasted audience of 1.28 million across projects in the coming years.  Altogether they will facilitate over 17,000 public engagement and 18,000 heritage engagement and educational opportunities, and lead to the redevelopment of over 1.06 million m2 of land, from riverscapes to castles, including the planting of over 100,000 trees.

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “These wonderful projects demonstrate the astonishing breadth of heritage that people value and want to pass onto future generations, from a Victorian workhouse to the famous Crystal Palace Park dinosaurs, and from one of the UK’s historic ports to our precious riverside habitats.  Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players over the last 30 years, we have worked with those who care for heritage and helped transformed the UK’s heritage landscape, contributing to communities and the economy. Our funding benefits all parts of the heritage ecosystem, including visitors, volunteers and the communities which surround it, and I cannot wait to see what the future brings as we work to deliver our vision for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future.”