We are still smiling ear to ear with the fantastic news: The National Lottery Heritage Fund have awarded us a grant of just over £141,000 to support a project spanning two open seasons (running just over 18 months)! This grant is hard won, so the team here at Freshspring have been thrilled to say the least!
This grant will help us make some final decisions regarding our ambition to see the ship steaming again as well as being an active, engaging and inspiring resource/place for young people; to help them see a future in engineering and all manner of roles related to maritime heritage.
The grant is wonderful though it doesn’t solve all our income challenges – we still need to fundraise/earn enough for our overheads and our learning officer’s salary and we are incredibly grateful for all the local support towards these aspects of our work!
A big thank you to our members, trustees and volunteers for continuing to make our project happen! We also extend a huge thank you to the Heritage Fund for this award. We will continue to keep you updated on how this award helps us to progress over the next 18 months. Watch this space!
Here is some of the media coverage we received – thank you to everyone for sharing our wonderful news:
North Devon Journal – in print (front page!)
Interview on The Voice FM with Laura James and Freshspring’s deputy chair, Annemarie Shillito