Aln Valley Railway welcomes funding boost and aims to hit the ground running in 2021

The £21,300 grant from the Government’s £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund is a lifeline for the heritage attraction which has been unable to open this year due to Covid-19.

The funding will be used to help with the overheads of the railway, launching the 2021 season, survey work on the Cawledge viaduct and other maintenance costs.

Tom Spence, chairman, Aln Valley Railway, said: “This is a fantastic award which will help us through the lean period of this enforced coronavirus shutdown and will help us hit the ground running for our 2021 season.”

Reopening after lockdown was deferred after shortcomings were identified by inspectors, including issues with procedures and management structures.

Elsewhere in Northumberland, the English Heritage sites of Berwick Barracks and Etal Castle will receive £60,000 and £16,000 respectively.

National Trust’s Cragside will receive £21,600 and Brinkburn Mill run by the Landmark Trust will receive £43,776.

Blyth Tall Ships has been awarded £51,400 and the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn gets £48,100.

Alnwick Playhouse has received £197,688, The Maltings in Berwick gets £230,000 and Hexham’s Queen’s Hall gets £147,563.

The Alnwick Garden was awarded £90,000.

Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “This is welcome news for these heritage sites which are important to our cultural heritage as well as key parts of our tourism offering as a county. I am really pleased they have been able to attract Government funding to help them through these difficult times.”

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