THE Heritage Lottery Fund was established by Parliament in 1994 to distribute money from the National Lottery for Good Causes.

It soon became known simply as HLF. The fund has made a huge impact in 13 years. At times unpopular decisions have been made and money has been "wasted" but a massive amount has been done both to preserve heritage and take it to the people.

Officially HLF is a non-departmental public body', not a government department as such, but the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport James Purnell is in charge of its finances and it reports to Parliament through him. All decisions about individual applications and policies are entirely independent and are taken by national and regional committees.

In 13 years HLF boasts having distributed £3.97 billion to more than 26,000 projects and helping open up our heritage for everyone to enjoy. But the money available to HLF has drastically reduced in recent times. Partly because we buy fewer Lottery tickets, but also because other good causes are competing for the money. The most recent has arisen through the impact of Lottery funding for the 2012 Olympics.

In the light of this, the £2 million awarded to the Fusiliers' Museum is testimony to the strength of the project, which will not only provide new interactive displays and much better quality showcasing for the museum but will also contribute to the refurbishment of the Arts and Crafts Centre in Broad Street.

While the project has suffered recent setbacks after the return of tenders for construction work, the project steering group under the direction of Colonel Brian Gorski is holding firm, negotiating with contractors and seeking new funding stream to bridge the gap. "Clearly we cannot let the project fall by the wayside and lose £2,000,000 of potential investment into the museum and into Bury" said Colonel Brian last week.

Meanwhile Eric Davidson and the campaign office team are continuing their efforts to raise money through the sale of brick certificates as gifts and as an opportunity for local people to support the museum. Every brick will be represented in the new displays with its owner's name as a record of the wonderful written dedications people have made. With a total of 10,000 bricks involved, the Brick Sale Scheme alone can add £100,000 to the project. If you haven't already bought some, please clip out the coupon here, the new Fusiliers' Museum needs your help more than ever. Learn more about this and the museum project or make a donation on our website www.fusiliersmuseum-lancashire.org.uk.

For any other information call 0161 764 2208.