Caledonian Railway Receives £115,500 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund
Press Release - Monday 27th July 2020
Caledonian Railway has received £115,500 National Lottery support to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on heritage
Caledonian Railway has received £115,500 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund which will help volunteers restart essential restoration and maintenance works at the railway which were brought to an abrupt stop since lockdown began back in March.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown began Caledonian Railway has been the Caledonian Railway has been completely closed, and during lockdown activities we have been limited to essential maintenance and security activities. Unfortunately, during this time we have been subject to thoughtless vandalism that has required the involvement of the Police – taking valuable resource away from dealing with the Covid19 crisis. The Railway has had no passenger income since 2019 and safety critical maintenance activities have been seriously curtailed. We are only now, slowly beginning to return to restricted routine maintenance activities with additional controls in place to protect our volunteers.
Jon Gill, Chairman of the Caledonian Railway said: “Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we can now we can now complete the maintenance and additional Covid19 preparation work necessary to allow us to reopen. We’re grateful that The National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting us at this crucial time – it’s a lifeline to us and others who are passionate about sustaining heritage for the benefit of all.”
The funding, made possible by National Lottery players, was awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund. £50million has been made available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector.
The UK-wide fund will address both immediate emergency actions and help organisations to start thinking about recovery.
Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, supporting economic regeneration and benefiting our personal wellbeing. All of these things are going to be even more important as we emerge from this current crisis.
“Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are pleased to be able to lend our support to organisations such as Caledonian Railway during this uncertain time.”
Like Caledonian Railway, other charities and organisations across the UK that have been affected by the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus outbreak are being given access to a comprehensive package of support of up to £600 million of repurposed money from The National Lottery. This money is supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and span the arts, community, charity, heritage, education, environment and sports sectors.
Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for good causes, including heritage of local and national importance. By playing The National Lottery, people up and down the country are making an amazing contribution to the nationwide-response to combatting the impact of COVID-19 on local communities across the UK.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund is currently open to applications for its Heritage Emergency Fund. To find out more visit: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/responding-coronavirus-covid-19
To find out more about the National Lottery Good Causes, visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/coronavirus-pandemic-response
For further information about the railway, visit www.caledonianrailway.com/about-us or contact us via email at enquiries@caledonianrailway.com