All Saints Church in Newcastle will be brought back to life after a decade of disuse. Thanks to a grant of £135,000 from Historic England the church has been repaired. All Saints Church was designed by David Stephenson and built between 1786 and 1796. It …
Record number of people visited English cathedrals this summer
English cathedrals have never been so popular. This summer, they saw rises of between 70% and 100% in visitor numbers. Cathedrals are using innovative methods to get people through their doors. For instance, Norwich Cathedral, member of AEC [Alliance Member], installed a helter skelter which …
National Lottery Fund awards £17.5 million to Arts Council England to boost engagement with arts and culture
ACE’s Creative People and Places project is focusing the funding from The National Lottery [Affiliate Alliance Member] on 13 new areas across the country for the next four years where involvement in arts and culture is significantly below the national average. They aim to transform …
Ann Maidment appointed new CLA South West Director
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) [Alliance Member] has recently announced the appointment of Ann Maidment as the South West Regional Director, one of the most important regional roles in the rural sector. Ann has been working with CLA since 2015 as a Rural …
NCVO warns of barriers to diversity in the charity sector
The NCVO report ‘Planning for Tomorrow’s Workforce: Understanding skills and skills gaps in the sector’ has revealed information about diversity within the charity sector. Charities are putting emphasis on staff having advanced qualifications: over half of the voluntary workforce is educated to a degree level …
DCMS Committee’s report concludes government should launch a ‘UK Garden City’ initiative
The report from Parliament’s DCMS Committee finds that garden tourism has much more economic potential yet to be exploited. MPs believe that the benefits that gardens bring to the tourism industry are ‘’not properly understood’’ and ‘’underestimated in financial, social and cultural terms’’. The Committee …
Many charity accounts not meeting external scrutiny benchmark
The Charity Commission has published a new study finding that only around half of charity accounts reviewed met the regulator’s external scrutiny benchmark. 296 charities were assessed against a new external scrutiny benchmark developed by the Charity Commission to determine whether a minimum standard of scrutiny by …
Huge hoard of Norman coins found in Somerset
A huge hoard of silver coins dating back to the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings could be declared as treasure. The 2,528 silver coins were found in the Chew Valley, north-east Somerset, by a group of metal detectorists. The British Museum said it was …
The Digital Secretary celebrates record breaking levels of foreign investment for 2019
The UK technology sector has attracted more investment into the UK this year than it did for the whole of 2018 – according to Tech Nation the digital economy is now a larger employer than sectors such as hospitality and financial services with each employing …
Competition launch to boost broadband connectivity
£250,000 of funding will be awarded to venues across the UK to improve their broadband connectivity to help them attract more events. The event venues applying will have to have conference facilities that bid for events which attract international delegates. The average value per project …
Chancellor announces £600 million of investment for housing
Chancellor Sajid Javid has declared that over £600 million will be invested to support the building of 50,000 new homes in high demand areas in England. The funding will be available through the Housing Infrastructure Fund. The fund has already allocated £1.3 billion to build …
Councils invited to apply for the Local Digital Fund
The next round of applications for the Local Digital Fund, which helps boost services has opened. The funding is used to improve public services for residents through innovative uses of digital technology. Councils are expected to work together to do this. The opening of the …