Today, Wessex Community Assets is announcing a £50,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to launch Flax Forward – a community led project that aims to research, share and celebrate Bridport’s rich flax-growing heritage and explore the potential of locally grown, natural materials for a sustainable future.
Flax Forward is a partnership project that will be delivered by Wessex Community Assets, Bridport Museum, Bridport Arts Centre and Bridport School of Regenerative Fashion.
The craft of flax processing has been identified as being at risk by the Heritage Craft Council. The Bridport Area holds a deep history connected to flax and bast fibre production, yet much of this knowledge, infrastructure and memory remains undocumented. Without support from the Heritage Fund, these stories risk being lost.
Community researchers will be supported to seek out, gather and connect knowledge from heritage collections, archives and a wide range of community sources. Together they will uncover lost flax infrastructure, information, memories and oral histories, contributing to the museum’s heritage data and making the story of flax in Bridport more accessible to the public.
Alongside community research, the project will facilitate wider public engagement, providing hands-on education in the cultivation, harvesting and processing of flax. Community volunteers will work together to design and make a modern “Bridport Dress” using locally grown and processed flax yarn. From May to July 2026, Wessex Community Assets will work with Tamarisk Farm to grow a new crop of long-stalk flax, hosting public flax-pulling sessions and processing workshops at the farm and at venues across Bridport. Flax offers farmers the opportunity to diversify crop rotations and can be grown successfully without fertilisers or pesticides, supporting biodiversity and organic farming practices.
The project will culminate in multi-venue exhibitions and events in late 2026 and into 2027. Curated by Bridport Arts Centre the exhibitions will share heritage research findings and tell a lasting story about Bridport’s flax-growing past and its importance for a sustainable future.
How to Get Involved?
- Become a Community Heritage Researcher: Applications open April 2026 via Bridport Museum.
- Join flax growing, harvesting and processing sessions: May-October 2026 at Denhay and Tamarisk Farms.
- Take part in making the Bridport Dress: learn about flax processing, spinning and take part in community workshops to help make a community dress! Applications open May 2026 via Bridport School of Regenerative Fashion.
Flax Forward event details and opportunities will be available at:
About Flax Forward Partners
- Wessex Community Assets is a Bridport based social enterprise helping community-owned enterprises generate more resilient and adaptable societies, economies and environments.
- People love and value Bridport Museum; they are inspired and engaged by the stories we tell, helping them understand the significance of Bridport’s past, appreciate the present, and imagine the future.
- Bridport Arts Centre is a multi-arts venue presenting a year-round programme of music, film, theatre, dance, comedy, spoken word and exhibitions.
- The mission of the Bridport School of Regenerative Fashion is to grow and nurture sustainable and circular fashion and textiles in Bridport and West Dorset.
Flax Forward has been made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities. heritagefund.org.uk. Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery #HeritageFund
Further Information about Flax Forward please contact info@wessexca.co.uk