Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has received £147,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help to cover the additional costs accrued due to the Covid pandemic. This includes paying for work to be done on our Nature Reserves and projects while volunteer parties could not meet. The money also allows us to make better provision for the ‘new normal’ of working from home; not sharing equipment amongst staff and volunteers.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown began Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has been working hard to keep supporters engaged with their work but inevitably membership numbers have fallen as people adjust to new times and, under lockdown and subsequent restrictions, membership recruitment has been on hold for much of the spring and summer. Many sites have also been subject to antisocial behaviour with consequent clean-up costs.
Helen Stace, CEO at Herefordshire Wildlife Trust said: “Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we can now get back to looking after the county’s wildlife and wild places.with staff back from furlough and working safely from home or with volunteers on our sites. We’re grateful that The National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting us at this crucial time – it’s a lifeline to us and others who are passionate about sustaining heritage for the benefit of all.”
The funding, made possible by National Lottery players, was awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund. £50million was made available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector.
The UK-wide fund aimed to address both immediate emergency actions and help organisations to start thinking about recovery.
Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “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 Herefordshire Wildlife Trust during this uncertain time.”
Like Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, other charities and organisations across the UK that have been affected by the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus outbreak are being given access to a comprehensive package of support of up to £600 million of repurposed money from The National Lottery. This money is supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and span the arts, community, charity, heritage, education, environment and sports sectors.
Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for good causes, including heritage of local and national importance. By playing The National Lottery, people up and down the country are making an amazing contribution to the nationwide-response to combatting the impact of COVID-19 on local communities across the UK.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund is now closed for applications. To find out more about how The National Heritage Emergency Fund is supporting the sector at this time please visit: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/responding-coronavirus-covid-19
To find out more about the National Lottery Good Causes , visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/coronavirus-pandemic-response
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 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 has 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.