Heritage Lottery Fund press release

We are grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for permission to include their press release on our site.

17 June 2005

£4m Lottery cash opens London mansions to local communities

Two key mansions in London parks have received funding pledges totalling almost £4 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to save them from further deterioration and open them up for use by the local community.

Valentines Mansion in Redbridge has gained a Stage One Pass* of £1,956,000 and an additional £37,000 to help develop their proposal in more detail. Hall Place and Gardens in Bexley meanwhile has secured Stage One funding of £1,844,000 and £155,000 in development funding. The full grant amounts will be rolled out once the detailed proposals are approved by HLF at Stage Two.

Valentine's Mansion, Redbridge

Valentine's Mansion has stood empty since 1993 and requires extensive repair and conservation to stop its ongoing decay. The HLF grant will go towards its complete internal and external restoration, saving the Grade II* Mansion and opening it up for public use, as well as greatly improving the Grade II historical landscape in the immediate Mansion area. The restored house will provide facilities for local people to use for recreational and leisure activities, heritage and historical education, weddings, corporate events and arts studios.

Work will include major repairs to the roofs, joinery and plasterwork, as well as the conservation of period features such as fireplaces, shutters, cornices and the complete replacement of the electrical and heating systems. A lift will be installed to allow access to all floors.

To help create a sense of the building's past, a series of period show rooms will be designed to focus on specific aspects of the Mansion's history; information panels placed inside and out, and guided tours and education activities put on to bring its past to life for all visitors. HLF has already provided a grant of over £3m for the restoration of Valentines Park and this cash for the Mansion in the park completes the picture.

Sue Bowers, HLF's Manager for the Heritage Lottery Fund in London, comments; 'This project pushes all the right buttons for us - it will save and hugely improve a wonderful house in a much loved park, and open it up for use by the local community after years of neglect. HLF is committed not only to conserving important heritage assets like Valentines Mansion, but bringing them to life for visitors by telling the stories of the past, and making sure that they can be used and enjoyed by as many people as possible.'

Councillor Mark Aaron, Cabinet Member for Culture and Community Learning from London Borough of Redbridge, adds; 'This is fantastic news for all the people in the Borough who love this building and who have supported it over the years. With this help from the Heritage Lottery Fund we will be able to restore the Mansion and the Park and create a first class heritage asset for future generations to enjoy.

'The Council is contributing around £1.2m to the project, and the Friends group, who have done so much to keep the Mansion going by fundraising and organising events, also deserve my special thanks.'

Hall Place and Gardens, Bexley

Grade I listed Hall Place, a scheduled ancient monument, is already a popular heritage site in Bexley, but demand has outgrown the limitations of the building and the planned project will vastly improve the site to develop a regional centre of excellence for heritage and environmental education. Galleries will be refurbished, designed to appeal particularly to children, and a local history museum created to make the most of a much loved local heritage site.

Physical work will include opening previously closed off ground and first floors areas to the public, carrying out repairs to stonework, windows and doors, and upgrading services. The currently unused Stable Block will also be refurbished and extended to include a new entrance space with a gallery for local artists, an education room, tourist information centre and tea rooms. As with Valentine's Mansion, the restored house will be able to cater for functions, weddings and other income-generating events.

Once complete, the project will open up more of the house to the public and allow, for the first time, display of the extensive Museum collection, highlighting key aspects of the history of the area from Prehistoric and Roman times to the Second World War.

Sue Bowers, Manager for the Heritage Lottery Fund in London, comments; 'Hall Place is an important historic building in fantastic grounds that thoroughly deserves to be restored and opened up to the local community. We are very keen to get communities in the Thames Gateway involved with the heritage on their doorstep, as sites like this help to create a sense of place and identity in communities, as well as giving a boost to the regeneration of an area.

'HLF recently awarded £1.2m to help revitalise the landscape surrounding nearby Danson House, and this second funding pledge demonstrates our commitment to saving and opening up the borough's heritage assets for everyone to enjoy.'

Martin Purslow Director of the Bexley Heritage Trust adds; 'The Trust and its supporters are absolutely delighted to have secured the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the revitalisation of Bexley's most important and most visited heritage asset, and a key heritage landmark in the Thames Gateway. The funding allocated will help to transform facilities and access to one of the most loved sites in the borough, the investment will significantly enhance and safeguard the future for the building as it approaches its 500th year.'

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Further information:

For further information please contact Alex Gaskell or Francis Mallinson, Heritage Lottery Fund Press Office, on: 020 7591 6047 / 6027, Website: www.hlf.org.uk.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation's heritage for everyone to enjoy. We have supported more than 15,000 projects, allocating over £3 billion across the UK. This includes grants totalling £660m in London.

*A 'Stage One Pass' means that money has been earmarked by the Heritage Lottery Fund for the project in question. Competition at this stage is tough, and while a Stage One Pass does not guarantee funding, it is an indication of positive support, and money for the scheme is set aside. The applicant can then progress to Stage Two and submit a further, fully developed application to secure the full grant. On occasion, at Stage One, funding will also be awarded towards the development of the scheme.