The Conservation Volunteers has received £140,800 National Lottery support to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on heritage.

The Conservation Volunteers has received £140,800 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support the return to regular activity of ten midweek conservation groups and the management of ten urban sites where TCV is the day to day operator, including TCV activities and sites in Manchester.

This will boost the practical conservation opportunities and improve the biodiversity and amenity of the sites worked on many of which have seen greatly increased use by local people during the pandemic.

When the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown began The Conservation Volunteers ceased all group volunteer activities. Since the summer, this has slowly been resuming with smaller group sizes and detailed Covid secure precautions to ensure the safety of volunteers, staff and the public. TCV activities are important to the physical and mental well-being of many of the participants and TCV is striving to resume activity as soon as is feasible.

Darren York, Chief Executive at The Conservation Volunteers said: “Many of the green spaces upon which local communities rely, for access to nature, exercise and connecting safely with others, have suffered from a lack of management since the early days of lockdown. 

Thanks to this incredible support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and players of the National Lottery, we can now start making up for lost time and bring valuable green spaces back into management for the benefit of people and nature.” 

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 The Conservation Volunteers during this uncertain time.”

Like The Conservation Volunteers, 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: 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

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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