The Headley Trust
The Headley Museums Treasure Acquisitions Scheme has been established by the Headley Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts. Its trustees are aware of the great difficulties many regional and local museums find in raising the purchase sum to secure treasure artefacts. They aim to help redress the balance by establishing this pilot scheme.
The Headley Scheme runs alongside and in close collaboration with the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund.
An application will only be accepted by the Headley Trust's office if the Resource/V&A Purchase Grant Fund has already offered a grant.
It follows from the above that applicant museums need to meet the eligibility criteria laid out in the Information for Applicants document available from the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund.
Museums may only apply for artefacts classified as Treasure Trove under the Treasure Act 1996. The minimum purchase price is £500 and the maximum is £300,000. The maximum grant the Trust will award is unlikely to exceed £10,000.
The Headley trustees will judge applications on the strength of the argument put forward for each artefact, or group of artefacts. In making the case, applicants should bear in mind that the trustees may well not know the collection in question, and that they are not archaeologists. The first paragraph should give a thumbnail sketch of the museum, its history, collections, visitor numbers, etc.
Even if an application to the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund has been successful, it will not necessarily secure the support of the Headley Trust.
For further information on this scheme, please visit the trust's website at www.headleytreasures.org.uk
