THE Colne Valley Railway (CVR) has successfully bid for a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) award of £1,757,200.
The bumper cash award comes after the railway faced potential eviction from its Castle Hedingham site some 19 months ago.
The news of the grant on December 1 will have come as a blessed relief to the CVR’s volunteers, who in March 2015 were told by the landowner, Australian businessman Christopher Young, that the railway was no longer welcome and that they would have to relocate.
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Months of negotiations resulted in Mr Young agreeing to split the site, enabling the CVR to buy the three-quarter-mile railway along with the heritage buildings. Mr Young retained the remainder of the site, including the current public entrance, car parking and events field.
Read more in January’s issue of The RM
