Grant assures Watercress Line’s future

WINCHESTER MP Steve Brine has welcomed a £ 600,000 grant made to the nearby Mid- Hants Railway ( MHR).

The latest award, from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage, comes on top of the £ 250,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant announced earlier in September.

The latest award will fund staffing costs throughout the winter when trading revenue is expected to be low because of the impact of the pandemic. It will also allow various developments to assist the line to cope with Covid- 19 restrictions such as erecting screens in carriages, alterations to dining trains, additional signage, introducing an up- to- date ticketing system to maximise revenue and a top- up sum towards the new children’s playground at Ropley.

With the railway running its new world- first Steam Illuminations event from November 14 to January 3 ( see News, page 24), the grant comes at a crucial time to help cover the cost.

Steve Brine said: “We all value Alresford’s vibrancy. The Watercress Line is such an important part of that, so I hope this grant from the Culture Recovery Fund secures the future. The MHR is also a unique employer locally, keeping alive many special skills and helping our future engineers find their way.”

Railway chairman Richard Lacey said: “This is wonderful news for us. It clearly shows that there is confidence in our ability to ride out the effects of Covid- 19 and it will secure the jobs of our paid staff. We are extremely grateful to the Government for the excellent support we have had through the last very worrying six months.

“We can now be sure we will be here in 2021, contributing in full measure to the health of the local economy.”

The Mid- Hants Railway’s sell- out October 16- 18 autumn steam gala, for which pre- booking was essential, included the first visit to the south of England by Stanier Jubilee 4- 6- 0 45596 Bahamas since it was preserved in mid- 1967. It was also the first time that the locomotive, owned by the Bahamas Locomotive Society, has visited a heritage line other than its Keighley & Worth Valley Railway home since 1997. Bahamas is seen heading in full flight past North Street, Ropley. ALAN TURNER