BBC’s Restoration appeal gives £200,000 boost to conservation projects

Four conservation projects are set to benefit from more than £200,000, thanks to the generosity of viewers of BBC Two’s Restoration Village.

Watts Gallery in Surrey, Howsham Mill in North Yorkshire, Cromarty East Church in the Scottish Highlands and Dennis Head Old Beacon in Orkney will be able to go ahead with much-needed conservation projects using funds from the £500,000 raised during Restoration Village, the third in the series of Restoration programmes.

The overall winner of the viewer vote for series three, Chedham’s Yard in Warwickshire, was awarded £250,000 from the Restoration Fund and £750,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Chedham’s Yard required a smaller amount towards its restoration than the total raised by viewers, leaving a surplus to be awarded to the runners-up.

It was announced in the televised final of Restoration Village that any money left in the viewer vote fund would be available to the other finalists to apply for, and the successful candidates have been announced today.

Andrea Miller, Chair of the Restoration Fund, said: "We are delighted that a further four projects will benefit from the funds raised by viewers of BBC’s Restoration.

“The chosen organisations will use the money to fund a discrete, stand-alone project so viewers can see a tangible result from their generosity.”

Restoration presenter Griff Rhys Jones added: "We have to thank the viewers again for their support for all the projects throughout the series of Restoration. They gave money too.

“It is great to see so much enthusiasm from so many right across the country. The money has gone where it was needed and where it will do great good.”

The awards are as follows:

* Watts Gallery: £55,000 to fund its ongoing restoration plans
* Howsham Mill: £50,000 for emergency re-building work, allowing the mill to continue with the next stage of its restoration
* Cromarty East Church: £54,000 to conserve, display and interpret the unusual decorative features in the church.
* Dennis Head Old Beacon: £50,000 towards the restoration of the Beacon Tower and the attached former Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage

Notes to Editors

The third series of Restoration was broadcast from Friday 28 July to Sunday 17 September 2006 on BBC Two.

The Restoration Fund was set up as an independent registered charity to distribute the money raised by the viewer vote-line accompanying the BBC Two programmes Restoration and Restoration Village.

The three series of the programmes raised £1.6million.

Previous winners of Restoration Fund funding were the Grade II* Listed Old Grammar School and the nearby Saracens Head in Birmingham (Restoration series two, 2004) and the Grade II* Listed Victoria Baths in Manchester (Restoration series one, 2003).