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Margaret Hodge announces £550,000 grant to help Chatham Historic Dockyard enrich visitor experience

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19 March 2010

Culture and Tourism Minister Margaret Hodge today announced a grant of £550,000 to the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust to help it realise exciting plans to enhance the experience of visitors to the 80 acre site in Kent.

The funding will help the museum and library to relocate to the north of the site, so making it easier for tourists and visitors to fully appreciate the Historic Dockyard and what it has to offer.  Last year 165,000 visitors came to see its historic warships and marine structures, and look at the wealth of 18th and 19th century buildings and scheduled monuments that, together, make it the most complete dockyard from the age of sail in the world.

Speaking at the end of British Tourism Week, Margaret Hodge said:

“Chatham Historic Dockyard has a unique place in our maritime history.  Playing an active part in naval campaigns from the defeat of the Spanish Armada to the Falklands War, it offers a fascinating and evocative perspective on our island history.  This grant will help the Dockyard present its historic buildings, ships and artefacts in the best possible way, and delight and inform even more visitors in the years to come.”

Chairman of the trustees Admiral Sir Ian Garnett KCB said:

“Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust has achieved much in the 25 years since being given stewardship of the former Royal Dockyard at Chatham and has benefitted greatly from the support of DCMS.  This latest grant is significant in helping us fulfill the next phase of our development.  In so doing it will improve the visitor experience and increase understanding of the part that the former Dockyard played in British history.  It will also increase the Trust’s prospects of creating a fully sustainable financial future for this very special place.”


Notes to Editors

  1. For more information please visit the Historic Dockyard at Chatham website.

Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6052/6277
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200

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