Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre are to receive £40,300 from the second round of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund

  • Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre is among more than 2,700 recipients to benefit from the latest round of awards from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund. 
  • This award will assist in the survival and future growth of Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre by helping to cover the necessary costs incurred during the Covid Crisis.

Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre at Newquay Airport has received a grant of £40,300 from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help the organisation recover and reopen. 

Nearly £400 million has been awarded to thousands of cultural organisations across the country including CAHC in the latest last week.

This award will assist in the survival and future growth of Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre by helping to cover the necessary costs incurred during the Covid Crisis. Even though the museum has lost 4 months of trading in 2021, the organisation – like many has still had the burden of numerous fixed costs throughout the crisis. The funds will also help the museum implement many new precautions to protect its visitors to the site over the forthcoming season when it re-opens on May 17th.

Over £800 million in grants and loans has already been awarded to support almost 3,800 cinemas, performance venues, museums, heritage sites and other cultural organisations dealing with the immediate challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

This brings the Government’s total investment across grants, capital, and repayable finance from the Culture Recovery Fund so far to more than £1.2 billion across over 5,000 individual cultural and heritage organisations and sites.

The second round of awards made today will help organisations to look ahead to the spring and summer and plan for reopening and recovery. After months of closures and cancellations to contain the virus and save lives, this funding will be a much needed helping hand for organisations transitioning back to normal in the months ahead. 

Richard Spencer Breeze, Director at CAHC said: “The team at Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre are delighted and relieved to have successfully secured additional funding support from round two of the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund. This news comes as a real boost to the directors and volunteers who have worked tirelessly between Covid restrictions to maintain and build our aircraft collection in anticipation of the delayed start to the 2021 season. The work continues to make our

centre a covid-safe place to visit in time for us to finally re-open our doors on 17th May.”

Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said:

“Our record-breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced.

Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors – helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead.”

Ros Kerslake, CEO of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:

“Spring is definitely here, bringing not only sunshine but that sense of optimism and hope for the future. We are all looking forward to heritage places and other visitor attractions reopening and I am very pleased that we have been able to support DCMS in delivering this vital funding to ensure the UK’s heritage sector can rebuild and thrive, boosting local economies, creating jobs and supporting personal wellbeing.” 

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said:

“The value of our heritage sites and the people who run them has been amply demonstrated, as they have provided an anchor for so many of us through the dark days of the last year. Vital grants from the Culture Recovery Fund have helped them survive and will now help them recover, as the places we all cherish start to reopen in the months ahead.”

The funding awarded today is from a £400 million pot which was held back last year to ensure the Culture Recovery Fund could continue to help organisations in need as the public health picture changed. The funding has been awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England as well as the British Film Institute and Arts Council England