Lottery Funding – Chatham Celebrates While Railway Museum Waits

There is rarely a week that passes without a mention in the local or national press about the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) providing funding for some project or another, normally to safeguard a building or attraction that could be lost to the nation, or to establish a museum or society to make sure that enthusiasts can work with financial liquidity.

As the week starts we appear to have news of one such project that is celebrating a successful application, and another worthy cause that is just starting out on the same run that it hopes will have an equally happy ending.

The Great Central Railway - waiting in the wings for Lottery money

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is the team that has already got the bubbly out as it has received a grant of £4.5m Lottery funding to support its Command of the Oceans project. Their project will preserve and repair a range of the dockyard's scheduled ancient monuments and a set of 18th Century ship’s timbers that were discovered in 2012.  Moreover, the grant will also be used to create galleries and visitor facilities, with the work due to be completed by 2016.

The site is also regarded as one the world's best preserved examples of a dockyard of its age, and perhaps unsurprisingly is one of eleven places shortlisted for World Heritage status.

Chief executive of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, Bill Ferris, said he hoped the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund would give "a major boost" to the dockyard's World Heritage Site bid. As a result of the award a further £4m for the project is unlocked, including a £3m contribution from the Homes and Communities Agency, responsible for the regeneration of the adjacent Chatham Maritime site.

Glancing enviously towards Chatham are the enthusiasts who are hoping to establish a new railway museum in Leicester, and as a measure of their intent has submitted a bid for £10m to the HLF. The plans are that the museum would be built close to the Leicester North station of the Great Central Railway, which spans Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

The projection is that visitor numbers could reach in the region of 230,00 per annum, and it is also being suggested that the museum, when built, would be a "significant annexe" to the National Railway Museum in York. A further £5 million of funding would be required if the award came to fruition.

The Great Central Railway is the UK's only double track main line heritage railway, meaning two tracks run parallel in opposite directions. Managing director Bill Ford said, "The museum will help people reconnect with Leicester's railway story and our shared heritage. Together with our thriving steam line, we're confident tens of thousands of people will visit every year."

The railway attracts about 120,000 visitors annually, and is already a seasoned film star, having been featured in films including Buster, Shadowlands, The Hours and Cemetery Junction. It was also used for the one of the many notorious Top Gear episodes, the one involving caravans being attached to a specially modified car and towed down the line.

Officials are also working with Leicester City Council on the project, and  City Mayor Peter Soulsby said that it was hoped that the museum would complement the nearby National Space Centre and Abbey Pumping Station.

                                                              Command of the Oceans

                                                                Great Central Railway