‘Decent’ start for WSR towards new £1 million ‘SOS’ appeal

IN THE first few weeks after launching a fresh £1m ‘SOS’ appeal, the West Somerset Railway (WSR) has raised £30,000 which it describes as 'a decent amount, especially with so many other appeals in our sector at present'. The ‘SOS’ appeal was launched to keep the WSR going until next May after the unexpected rejection of the railway’s bid for £432,200 to the Government’s Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) under its Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage (CRFH). With an anticipated poor 2021 season with limited income as a result of Covid restrictions and enforced lower capacity, plus delays in re-opening Seaward Way level crossing outside Minehead affecting normal trade, the WSR faces an immediate need to raise £500,000 this year to just keep going.

Then, another £500,000 is required for infrastructure, otherwise the WSR will have to look at other commercial methods to raise money, such as loans, overdrafts and other measures that are likely to be expensive to implement and which will cost more in the longer term.

The WSR is one of a number of railways that have had their secondround bids rejected, after the DCMS and CRFH changed the definitions of the type of organisations that could receive them.