Pools and park among winners in Government funding round
YORKSHIRE and the Humber is to receive more than £11 million in Government funding, with swimming pools, a gallery and a cricket club among those to benefit.
Sheffield’s Abbeydale Picture House, which announced its closure last month, has been saved after its owners received £300,000 from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to buy the building and carry out repairs.
The department says the funds will "re-establish it as a thriving, vibrant cultural focal point".
The latest round of cash from DLUHC’s Community Ownership Fund has seen £3.3m granted to nine ventures in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Keighley Creative was one of the main beneficiaries, receiving £1.3m to purchase and refurbish the upper floor of the building it uses to host creative spaces, workshops and community events.
Elsewhere, the 200-year-old Lascelles Hall cricket club, in Huddersfield, has been awarded £300,000 to help build a new clubhouse after an arson attack in 2010 left it operating out of a temporary home ever since. It’s hoped the new clubhouse will open next year.
Meanwhile, 22 swimming pools in the region have received a share over £4m from the Government's Swimming Pool Support Fund (SPSF).
The second phase of the funding pot saw £60m available to swimming pools in England to undertake capital projects. Of that figure £20m was Lottery funding while £40m came from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The largest beneficiary in Yorkshire and the Humber was Ennerdale Leisure Centre, in Hull, which received £780,000 for new pool covers and triple glazing in the pool hall.
Adwick Leisure Complex, in Doncaster, was awarded £384,497 to install solar panels and replace its ageing boiler, while Dearnside Leisure Centre, in Barnsley, received £201,000 to install thermostatic valves on its radiators and to install a microfiltration system in its pool.
DCMS has also provided £4m in funding to Yorkshire’s museums and libraries through the Cultural Investment Fund, with 13 organisations in the region benefitting.
Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery has been awarded £600,000 to help maintain environmental stability in its galleries, while Yorkshire Sculpture Park has been awarded £250,000 to restore and repair a 200-year-old Grade II-listed bridge.
Mark Chesman, head of estates and projects at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, said: “We are delighted that the MEND fund, administered by ACE, will be supporting us to carry out urgent repairs to a historic iron bridge within Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
“The Cut bridge crosses the River Dearne and is a critical part of the estate’s infrastructure, repairs to the deck and ironwork will ensure continued access to art, nature and our heritage.
“It’s only with the support from capital grants such as the MEND fund, and additional partnership funding from Historic Houses Foundation, that these essential works can be progressed.”