Press Enquiries

Contact: info@bellingham-heritage.org.uk

Some recent press reports about the Heritage Centre - not comprehensive

19 Mar 2012 Hexham Courant -New Carriages open

30 Nov 2011 Hexham Courant-CEREMONY HONOURS VOLUNTEERS AT HERITAGE CENTRE

03 Oct 2011 Hexham Courant-VISIT BY PILGRIMS FROM BELLINGHAM , THATS BELLINGHAM USA

09 Aug 2011The Journal (Newcastle)- BELLINGHAM FLOOD IN PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION

06 May 2011 Hexham Courant - A SHOCK TO SEE TWO RAILWAY CARRIAGES

18 Apr 2011 Hexham Courant - RAILWAY TRUNDLES INTO BELLINGHAM

15 Apr 2011The Journal (Newcastle) - HERITAGE CENTRE HOPES TRAIN WILL BOOST TOURISM

21 Mar 2011 Hexham Courant - HERITAGE CENTRE AIMS TO DRAW IN THE CROWDS

18 Mar 2011The Journal (Newcastle) - BOOST FOR HERITAGE CENTRE

07 Mar 2011 Hexham Courant - GROWING APPEAL OF CENTRE

31 Jan 2011 Hexham Courant - HERITAGE CENTRE GETS LOTTERY CASH

18 Jan 2011The Journal (Newcastle) - CASH BOOST TO HERITAGE CENTRE

17 Jan 2011 Hexham Courant - EXHIBITION DISCOVERS NEW HORIZONS

17 Jan 2011 Hexham Courant - STUDENTS DRAW UP 10-YEAR PLAN

RACING TO MEET DEMAND AS VISITOR NUMBERS RISE BY OVER 20%
Posted on Tuesday, 15th March, 2011
Press & Media >> Press Releases

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Correction Notice as PDF

CORRECTION NOTICE re Press Release issued 14 March 2011 entitled “RACING TO MEET DEMAND AS VISITOR NUMBERS RISE BY OVER 20%”

The Northumberland Uplands LEADER project was incorrectly named as „Northern Uplands LEADER programme‟.
The following explanatory sentence was omitted: “The LEADER funding is made available through the Rural Development Programme for England, which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, and is managed by One NorthEast in the North East region.”

Not satisfied with the record numbers of visitors in 2010, when over 4000 came, the Heritage Centre at Bellingham, Northumberland, has committed itself to a target of 10,000 by the end of 2013. This is in comparison to 2007 when just 1,700 people visited. The Centre is racing to meet the 2013 target by appointing two part-time consultants to develop the exhibitions and education programmes, providing extra exhibition and learning space and opening a tea-room. These developments, which will cost £234,000 over three years, are possible because of its success and careful planning which have attracted the necessary money from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Northern Uplands LEADER Programme

The part-time consultant posts are for a curator and an education officer to work with the existing team of over 40 volunteers. The extra exhibition and learning space and the tea-room will be housed in two old railway coaches which will be located beside the Heritage Centre in the former station yard. The posts have already been advertised and suitable coaches have been located and ordered.

The curator will help develop the museum‟s collections, displays and temporary exhibitions and supervise the cataloguing and conservation of museum artefacts. S/he will train volunteers in all aspects of museum work. The focus will be on providing the best possible experience for visitors to the Heritage Centre. The education officer will develop programmes for schoolchildren and young people – with an eye on curriculum-based learning. The focus here will be on getting more schools and educational groups to visit by providing attractive learning experiences over a range of heritage projects that will engage children and young people. It is hoped that the appointees will be in post in May.

For many years, visitors have been urging the Heritage Centre to provide a tea-room. The new tea-room will not be run directly by the Centre but will be rented out. In an effort to encourage a new business start-up, it is providing the fully-equipped tea-room rent-free for the first year. This will enable someone who might otherwise find it difficult to meet all the start-up costs to establish a business securely in the crucial first year. The tea-room is likely to provide additional employment especially during the summer months. It will encourage visitors to spend more time in the local area which will provide a boost for local businesses. It will complement existing facilities in Bellingham.

The decision to base the extra exhibition and learning space and the tea-room in old railway coaches came partly from the continuing interest in the Heritage Centre‟s Border Counties Railway collection and permanent display, the success of the „Wannie Line‟ exhibition which had to be shown twice during 2010, and a precedent set by the Dales Countryside Museum at Hawes in North Yorkshire which also uses rail coaches for exhibitions. Following an extensive search, two suitable old Mark 1 coaches were located in Oakehampton in Devon which will be transported to the Heritage Centre before the end of March. The biomass boiler which provides heating for Station House (North Tyne and Redesdale Community Partnership) and the Heritage Centre has enough capacity to heat the coaches also. The work of refurbishing and fitting out the two railway coaches will start in April and is expected to be completed by the end of October. They will be painted in the livery colours, maroon and cream, of the defunct Border Counties Railway. Local people and firms will be employed wherever possible so that the money will benefit the local area.

In the meantime, the Heritage Centre continues its usual busy programme of exhibitions and events. It is holding a training afternoon for volunteers on Tuesday 29 March. The Heritage Centre has over 40 volunteers but is always seeking new recruits, particularly those with IT, marketing and admin skills. It is also working with local agencies that support volunteering as a means to help people who have been unemployed for a long time back to work.

On Wednesday 6 April it is holding its annual information open day for people providing accommodation and other services for visitors to the area.

The Heritage Centre has a full programme of exhibitions and events for the rest of the year. Its current special exhibition Eternal Horizons which displays artefacts, photographs and documents from churches in the area continues until the end of March. It will be replaced by Robert Stephenson – Life and Rainhill which runs from Monday 4th April to Wednesday 11th May. This exhibition will give visitors an opportunity to take an interactive tour of the restored Stephenson Works where the famous locomotive „Rocket‟ was built. The annual and very popular Classic and Vintage Vehicles weekend will run on Sat 9th and Sun 10th April.

The Heritage Centre is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. during March, and will open every day from Friday 1st April until the end of October.