Historic Warwick building gets cash boost to help safely reopen to the public

Since the pandemic and lockdown began, The Lord Leycester Hospital has been closed to all heritage visitors and events to ensure the safety of its residents
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A historic building in Warwick has been able to safely reopen its doors to the public thanks to a cash boost.

The Lord Leycester Hospital, which is in High Street, has received £36,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable the safe reopening of its historic buildings and gardens to visitors.

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Since the pandemic and lockdown began, The Lord Leycester Hospital has been closed to all heritage visitors and events to ensure the safety of its residents.

The Lord Leycester Hospital has received funding the National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable the safe reopening of its historic buildings and gardens to visitors. Photo by Gill FletcherThe Lord Leycester Hospital has received funding the National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable the safe reopening of its historic buildings and gardens to visitors. Photo by Gill Fletcher
The Lord Leycester Hospital has received funding the National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable the safe reopening of its historic buildings and gardens to visitors. Photo by Gill Fletcher

This grant has enabled the medieval site to reopen with new safety measures to protect staff and residents.

The Lord Leycester’s buildings and gardens are open every weekend 10am to 4pm and will be fully open Tuesday to Sunday each week from mid-August.

Heidi Meyer, the Master at The Lord Leycester Hospital said: “Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we can now put in place all the Government guidelines on social distancing and welcome our Heritage visitors back to this extraordinary medieval site.

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"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 has been made available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector.

The UK-wide fund has addressed both immediate emergency actions and helped organisations to start recovery.

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This grant is in addition to the National Lottery grant received by the Lord Leycester Hospital in June 2019 to develop a plan to restore and upgrade the site for wider community appeal.

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 well-being.

"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 The Lord Leycester Hospital during this uncertain time.”

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Like The Lord Leycester Hospital, 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.