ONE of the most popular destinations around Oswestry has received tens of thousands of pounds of heritage lottery funding to help with a post-Covid opening.

Whittington Castle has been awarded a recovery grant of £37,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which bosses and volunteers have labelled as 'hugely important'.

Castle manager Susan Ellis said they were delighted to discover they had been awarded the money, but admitted they are still waiting to see what it can be spent on.

"We are thrilled," she said.

"This is hugely important for the Castle’s survival.

"At the time of writing we are awaiting confirmation of what the grant will cover as monies are ‘restricted’ to a narrow range of projects specified by the Heritage Lottery.

"We were able to bid for funds to help with marketing and communication – to get our message out to visitors, improved signage, Covid-related measures and to ensure that our policies and procedures are all in line with government guidelines.

"Once we know the exact details of what the money must be spent on we will be able to let everyone know."

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Susan explained that there is a huge sense of satisfaction in securing the money because of the hard work that went into the original bid.

She added: "An enormous amount of work goes into submitting a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund so it is gratifying and heart-warming that our bid was accepted.

"These are very tense times for small heritage organisations who have to be self-funding, so every penny of the grant will make a difference to our survival.

"We are proud to have been selected as a recipient of these funds from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

"Everyone associated with the Castle would like to take this opportunity to thank each member of our community who has supported us over the past year.

"We have confirmed that Whittington needs its Castle and we can’t do this without you!"