"We were already planning to perform in Hayle at the same time as they were putting on their local carnival, but thanks to LHI we were able to get much more involved and made more effort to maintain the heritage links.

We’ve worked with a company called Cornwall Enterprise, who were helping to sort funding options for us, and they came across an LHI leaflet and thought it might be appropriate to us.

So we attended an LHI day seminar in Bodmin, where we talked it through with Angela, a Project Support Worker who is specifically contracted by LHI as a consultant to help groups develop their projects and work up applications. Our project didn't fit easily into the mould for LHI, and she was very good at bridging the gap - both understanding what we were trying to do and also understanding the terms of the LHI scheme.

She guided us through to find a way where they could meet - by bringing out the heritage side of our project, and being much more explicit about that rather than focusing on the artistic elements.

We went through a very early draft that we’d prepared, and then we went through 3 or 4 later drafts by Email and over the phone, which took six to eight weeks.

If we hadn't had that well informed and sympathetic personal advice, our application wouldn’t have been accepted, but the end result worked out really well for everyone. It’s unusual to have that level of individual help, but it was necessary in our case, and very much appreciated."