'Magnificent' £4.6m lottery grant for charity hub

A Grade-II listed property housing 18 charities has been awarded £4.6m by the National Lottery Heritage Fund - a grant its trustees described as "truly magnificent".

Dozens of charities and volunteer groups have operated out of Kendal's Stricklandgate House, which has supported services since 1993.

The house - built in 1776 - was leased to the Kendal Literary and Scientific Society in 1854, where its founder members, geologist Adam Sedgwick and poets William Wordsworth and Robert Southey, were regular visitors.

Stricklandgate House Trust said the grant would conserve the 250-year-old Georgian building and fund improvements to its accessibility and a community hub and lounge.

Helen Featherstone, from the awarding body, said the house "boasts a fascinating history featuring stories of William Wordsworth and Robert Southey".

Stricklandgate House was built for Joseph Maude, a merchant and co-founder of what became Kendal Savings Bank prior to it becoming Kendal's library and museum in 1854.

The house closed early in the 20th Century and reopened as the offices and chambers of South Lakeland District Council in 1974.

Featherstone said it had now established itself as a "stalwart for the communities of Kendal".

The trust said the building was home to 18 charities and voluntary groups, was used by more than 50 local organisations and supported more than 13,000 people a year.

It said the £4,656,036 grant would "secure its future, enhance its services and would welcome more people to Stricklandgate House", describing the improvement project as "almost certainly the most important project for the charity sector in South Lakeland for years".

John Leigh, joint chairman of the board of trustees at Stricklandgate House Trust, said "to say we are absolutely delighted is an understatement".

He added that it was "thanks not only to the truly magnificent grant from the NLHF, but also to the really generous support we have received locally, regionally and nationally".

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