National Lottery Heritage Fund
There are lots of things to be thankful for this festive season, especially after such a tough year. You may recall back in September we shared the news that we received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. We thought we would take the chance to showcase many of the wonderful things we have been able to do with this funding.
Back in March the majority of the Hopetoun team were put on furlough leaving skeleton staff over Spring and Summer. Thanks to the Heritage Fund we were able to welcome the Hopetoun team back. With staff back on site it meant that we were able to open the House and Grounds for a very short, but wonderful season welcoming over 3000 visitors back to Hopetoun with new Covid-19 safety procedures in place to make sure all staff and visitors were safe.
Our housekeeping team were a pivotal part in the re-opening of Hopetoun back up to the public and without them it wouldn’t have been possible. Not only did they make sure the house was ready for visitors but they made sure that everywhere was disinfected and sanitised and in line with safety regulations to make sure that visitors could enjoy Hopetoun in a safe and enjoyable way.
With funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund the education team were also able to return to work and as they were unable to offer school visits, they concentrated their efforts into producing a video for teachers and students. The video is a step back in time to show a day in the life of a maid at Hopetoun – keep your eye’s peeled on our social media channels as we will be showcasing the video after the new year. We also would like to say a massive congratulations to Kath, Fiona & Elizabeth of the Education team who have been awarded Heritage Education Trust’s Sandford Award for Excellence in Heritage Education! Here’s what the judges had to say: “Hopetoun House provides a range of workshops that fully support the Curriculum for Excellence offering pupils skills for the future, confidence-building through role play, research and analysis, business and events planning. Workshops are delivered by a skilled and experienced team with a full pack of resources to continue working back at school. The House has opened up new spaces for learners to explore and new programmes that will appeal to primary and secondary schools. A Georgian House, within a managed landscape setting, offering Victorian and World War I workshops but very firmly rooted in the needs of 21st century learners.”
As the house and grounds were shut for 4 months there was a lot of work to do before the grounds were safe enough to open to the public. The green volunteers put in a whopping 853 hours to make sure the grounds were presentable for us opening again – we certainly wouldn’t have been able to open without them. The funding also allowed Emma to host some Ranger events throughout Summer and Autumn from ranger led walks to fascinating funghi and the ever popular tree-mendous walk.
We have also been able to fund new online projects to help us promote Hopetoun in a new Covid friendly, virtual way.
We have been able to produce a brand new weddings show real to showcase weddings at Hopetoun. We have also been able to create a brand new 360 virtual tour of Hopetoun. This tool allows us to host virtual tour appointments to showcase Hopetoun in a safe and socially distanced way.
Thank you National Lottery Heritage Fund for all your support in making this happen.
Categories: Hopetoun House
