North Yorkshire Moors Railway awarded £1.94m from Culture Recovery Fund

North Yorkshire Moors Railway has been awarded £1.94m as part of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund to help the organisation survive the financial challenges caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
£1.94m grant awarded to North Yorkshire Moors Railway.£1.94m grant awarded to North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
£1.94m grant awarded to North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

North Yorkshire Moors Railway is one of eight organisations receiving grants totalling £18,760,865m, as part of the second round of grants between £1m and £3m from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.

This follows a previous round of similar sized grants and two rounds of grants under £1m announced last month, which supported over 2000 organisations.

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Chris Price, General Manager at NYMR, said: “Let’s face it, 2020 has been a whirlwind of a year, and there has been so much uncertainty.

"Here at NYMR we’ve launched a number of crisis appeals and had to call on the generosity of members of the public to help us pull through and it’s been tough, but we’ve made it this far.

“But I can’t tell you the sigh of relief we’ve breathed today after receiving the news from Arts Council England that we’ve been awarded such a significant grant, which we believe is the largest awarded to a heritage railway in the UK.

"It will enable us to continue to offer a safe, revised service and build back to our 300,000 annual visitors as well as secure jobs and our heritage skills.

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“It’s a real testament to the work that we do to have recognition of the importance of NYMR to the region, both economically and culturally.

"It also means our Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey (YMJ) project can carry on, enabling us to continue with building our conservation and heritage apprenticeship programmes, our lineside ecological conservation work, offer fuss free access for disabled visitors, grow our learning offer at Pickering and Goathland, and of course reach out to individuals, groups and communities to share our passion for the history of the region through steam travel.

“Thank you to Arts Council England and the Culture Recovery Fund.”

Local MPs were delighted with the news.

Speaking after the announcement, Scarborough and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill said: “Not only does this grant secure the survival of an iconic tourist attraction that brings so many visitors to our area year after year but also the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is an irreplaceable element of our national historic heritage that we could never allow to be another casualty of this dreadful virus.”

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Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake added: “This is an iconic feature of North Yorkshire and this money will help save jobs and preserve it for the millions of visitors who enjoy it every year. It is unthinkable that we could lose it and this money will help preserve it for future generations.”

Announcements on further funding will follow in the coming weeks.

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