Wicksteed Park given almost £250,000 from Covid recovery fund

Wicksteed Park has been given another huge financial boost after it was awarded almost a quarter of a million pounds from a Covid recovery fund.

Today (Friday) it has been announced that the popular Kettering attraction will benefit from the first wave of grants from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport's Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage.

It's been given £247,000 as part of the Here for Culture campaign, set up to make sure the country's performing arts, heritage sites, independent cinemas, music venues and museums can weather the impact of coronavirus.

Oliver Wicksteed, the chairman of the Wicksteed Charitable Trust which owns the park, said he hoped the cash and the ongoing support from local people would help the park to recover and prosper.

He said: “This ongoing support is absolutely crucial for the park at a time when the survival of the cultural and heritage sites is at the front of everyone’s mind.

“We are immensely grateful that the Government understands the role that the park plays in the local community and the support it provides to people and is providing us with funding that is vital to help us meet the costs of keeping the park open for people to visit.

“This crisis is going on longer than anyone expected and it is absolutely vital that people have green spaces to enjoy.”

Mr Wicksteed previously said the park alone, without the rides and attractions, costs around £110,000 a month to operate.

But the latest cash boost takes the park's fundraising total since the shock of administration to more than half a million pounds.

The park has also been boosted by more than £163,000 which has been raised by well-wishers and the community in an ongoing fundraising campaign.

Kettering DJ Damian Cox recently won a regional Pride of Britain award for his fundraising efforts for the park.

A new company funded by the trust, Wicksteed Trading Limited, is aiming to get through to next spring when it hopes the park off Barton Road can re-open fully.

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