It is fantastic news for people living in my constituency and for the millions of visitors to North Yorkshire that three hugely popular heritage sites are to receive substantial sums from the Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF) for Heritage, set up to help the country’s cultural gems survive the coronavirus pandemic.
The Castle Howard Estate will be awarded £870.000, whilst Eden Camp will receive £238,800 and the Wesley Centre (Malton Methodist Church) can expect £78,000. Three organisations will receive monies from the Heritage Stimulus Fund, distributed by Historic England for construction and maintenance. They are Helmsley Castle which is awarded £8,400, Thornton le Beans Chapel £47,404 and the Treasure House of England at Castle Howard will receive £612,960.
I am delighted. This means that our wonderful heritage, which are huge tourist attractions in Thirsk and Malton, is getting vital support at a very challenging time and it will help protect their future as well as jobs and the benefits they bring to the local economy. It will mean that they will be preserved for future generations to enjoy not only by local people but the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to North Yorkshire every year. I pay tribute to the Government for providing this crucial support.
Eden Camp Financial Director, Howard Johnson, said “This award has come at a crucial time for the Museum, and we are grateful to receive such a large amount of funds in such a difficult time. It will enable us to conduct essential repairs and building work over the Winter period without starving us of sufficient cashflow to keep up the operations and restoration of the vehicles and assets on site. We are dedicated to preserving the heritage and history of such a unique site, and it is a pleasure to say we will continue for years to come.”
Wesley Centre Trustee and Development Lead, Paul Emberley, said “This is fantastic news and we’re enormously grateful to the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage by supporting us in this way. As one of the largest such buildings in Ryedale, It will help to sustain our work over the coming months during these tough times as we continue to make our historic venue available for all the community to use. It will enable us to accommodate many more people safely, to use the latest technologies so that we can be more resilient, and to undertake urgent work to the fabric of our 1811 Grade ll* listed facade in the heart of Malton.”
The CRF is funded by the Government and delivered by heritage experts, the Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to support organisations in England across the heritage ecosystem that are local and national treasures but have fallen on hard times due to the pandemic. In total more than £67m is being shared out among of 433 successful applicants from across England to help with key repair and maintenance work, and help sites operate and recover. A raft of famous sites across the country have been awarded funding including historical areas, buildings, monuments, collections, museums, archives and places of worship. A further 12 organisations, including the three in Thirsk and Malton, are benefitting from the £34m from the Heritage Stimulus fund.
The package of support is the first round of funding from the Government’s £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “As a nation it is essential that we preserve our heritage and celebrate and learn from our past. This massive support package will protect our shared heritage for future generations, save jobs and help us prepare for a cultural bounce back post covid. I’m so pleased that we have been able to help save so many organisations in Thirsk and Malton.”
