Exeter Cathedral has received a £250,000 Heritage Emergency Fund grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The emergency funding, made possible by National Lottery players, is part of £50 million recently awarded to heritage sites across the country, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
With a significant deficit from lost revenue following three months of closure, for Exeter Cathedral the grant comes at a critical time, as the Dean of Exeter, The Very Revd Jonathan Greener, confirms:
“It has been an extremely challenging few months at Exeter Cathedral, so to be awarded a Heritage Emergency Fund grant is an immense relief. The £250,000 of National Lottery funding that we have received will help cover our day-to-day running costs and staffing, and make a big contribution towards plugging the substantial financial deficit we have been facing this year.”
The Cathedral’s Director of Development, Jill Taylor agrees:
“We have endured a long period of lost income, with all the ongoing costs involved in maintaining such a significant ancient building. So this award is vital for the short term. It will support our essential overheads for four months, and it will help us to emerge from the current situation with a more balanced year end.”
By securing the present, the grant also enables Exeter Cathedral to look to the future with confidence and better support the whole community of Devon at a time of great need. As the Dean explains:
“Whilst we have always maintained our programme of daily worship – through live streaming during lockdown, and now physically back in the Cathedral – having this kind of financial security frees us to meet the challenges of serving the people of Devon in other important ways too. We can move forward with a stronger focus on welcoming visitors back safely while keeping our volunteers and staff safe, and provide an accessible place of reflection and healing for the wider community.”
“All of us at Exeter Cathedral are very grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and of course to all the National Lottery players who make such grants possible.”
Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, concludes:
“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 Exeter Cathedral during this uncertain time.”
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future.
www.heritagefund.org.uk #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
The Heritage Emergency Fund is now closed for applications. Extra advice and support and longer-term skills and capacity building initiatives have also been made available for the heritage sector. Read more about The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s response to the Covid-19 emergency.
About the National Lottery:
- Since The National Lottery’s first draw took place on 19 November 1994, more than £40 billion has been raised for good causes in the areas of arts, sport, heritage and community.
- National Lottery players contribute around £30 million to good causes every week.
- The National Lottery has made more than 5,500 millionaires but its primary purpose is giving to good causes – over 565,000 individual grants have been awarded across the UK, that’s the equivalent of 200 life-changing projects in every UK postcode district.