Derby Libraries awarded grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Derby City Council’s Derby Libraries team will receive a £130,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The money will fund a two-year project at Derby Local Studies and Family History Library to encourage greater use of the library and create a fun way for young people to engage with their local heritage.

The exciting project will see young volunteers create a fantasy role-playing game, based on Dungeons and Dragons from Wizards of the Coast. They’ll work alongside library staff, a games-master and a range of professional creatives to uncover stories from the library’s collection and weave them into the game.

The two-year project, made possible thanks to National Lottery players, will include the production of video shorts and podcasts to introduce and follow the game, while the library will host a range of family-friendly activities and events that tie in too.

Eventually, people will be able to download a game pack to allow them to play themselves. There will also be a club at the library with support people to play the game, welcome new players and even research new characters, locations and adventures to expand the game world.

Councillor Sarah Chambers, Derby City Council Cabinet Member for Cost of Living, Equalities and Communities, said:

We are thrilled to have received this support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we’ll be able to broaden access to the library’s collections, engage new audiences with their history and retell stories that would otherwise remain unheard.

The Local Studies library holds a unique and rich collection of paper materials on Derby and Derbyshire – its people, communities, topography, history and development.

Unpublished manuscripts, old newspapers, photographs, broadsides and antiquarian books sit alongside more recent publications and official information, forming an unmatched and irreplaceable record of our city’s heritage.

More details of the project and how to get involved will be available later this year. To stay updated, sign up for the Derby Libraries eNewsletter on the Derby Libraries pages.