Heritage Lottery Fund's support for UK's maritime heritage
The Heritage Lottery Fund's support for Britain's maritime heritage over the past ten years has been recognised as the major source of funding to help save the nation's ships at risk and for projects celebrating our sea-faring history.
Findings in the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Enquiry into Maritime Heritage Report (published 17 March 2005), says:
We applaud the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for its sponsorship of the sector despite the many demands on its resources.
However, the Report continues to sound a warning that there is a dangerous dependency on lottery funding by organisations committed to preserving our maritime past.
We have given considerable support to our maritime heritage and will continue to do so. We have funded some wonderful projects, but HLF alone is unable to meet all the demands of this sector. This is a timely Report, coming in the year of SeaBritain, which is celebrating the many ways in which the sea touches all of our lives,
Carole Souter, Director of HLF.
In giving evidence to the Committee, HLF gave details of the many projects it has supported over the last ten years, which have already helped some of the UK’s most vulnerable ships.
Many maritime conservation projects can act as a springboard for economic regeneration and boost an area's tourism potential. An HLF grant of over £5 million for the refurbishment of HMS Trincomalee, the second oldest ship in the world still afloat and the earliest surviving example of the classic Royal Navy frigate of Nelson’s day, is a great example. Its restoration has helped turn former derelict areas of Hartlepool into a vibrant tourist destination.
The £28 million lottery investment into 18 projects for the Chatham Historic Dockyard has contributed more than £12.8 million of income into the region's economy a year, according to the Southern Tourist Board. The site is rich in maritime history and in addition to the No 7 Covered Slip, built in 1755, visitors can explore HMS Cavalier, the Second World War destroyer, the submarine Ocelot and, following its imminent restoration, the Victorian sloop, HMS Gannet.
HLF’s recently awarded £1.2 million worth of development funding, with a further £11.7 million earmarked, for an ambitious project designed to conserve and secure a long term future for the internationally famous Cutty Sark.
Other HLF projects cited include the conservation of the Tudor Warship, the Mary Rose in Portsmouth; the return to working order of the Waverly paddle steamer that now provides trips to the public along the Fife of Clyde in Glasgow; the conservation of the Dover Bronze Age Boat in Kent; and the ground-breaking conservation of SS Great Britain in Bristol, in its day the largest and most technologically-advanced ship in the world.
Most recently, HLF awarded a grant of £105,000 in March 2005 to save the last coal-fired Clyde Puffer in operation. Sixty years ago 'Puffers' were a familiar sight around the west coast as they served as a lifeline to many remote communities delivering goods such as coal, grain, stone and whisky.
Aptly in this Year of the Volunteer, almost all of HLF's maritime projects clearly demonstrate the dedication and importance of volunteers in ensuring these projects are successful.
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The Heritage Lottery Fund enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks, maritime history and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation's heritage for everyone to enjoy. HLF has supported more than 15,000 projects, allocating over £3billion across the UK.
More information is available on the Heritage Lottery Fund website, or contact Alison Scott/Katie Owen on 020 7591 6032/6036, out of hours 07973 613820.