This week at Auckland Castle
This is a busy week at Auckland Castle as we get things lined up for taking full ownership of the Castle on 30th June. In three broad headings, this week sees us starting to make inroads into money, events, and gardens…
Firstly, we are welcoming the management team from the Heritage Lottery Fund, as we hope to submit a bid for a large grant later in the year. Getting lottery – and other – grant funding is key to our development plans for the next three years if the Castle is to be restored and, we hope, the town regenerated. We are also hosting the Destination Development Group meeting at the Castle this week, a gathering of local business, educational and community–minded organisations and individuals who share a common goal, the development of Bishop Auckland as a place to live, work and visit.
Big dreams start with small steps, and we are starting to get our plans lined up for events, activities and occasions at Auckland Castle. At the recent food festival, you gave us loads of ideas about how to make the Castle a vibrant part of Bishop Auckland and the wider region, and that is precisely what we’re doing. We are getting going with local businesses, trusts and charities in the development of our commercial businesses, which will enable us to ‘cross fertilise’ our charitable work. We are meeting with wedding planners and event organisers this week, and by the end of the week we hope to be able to announce our summer programme. And we are also cementing our links with the Sage, and looking at how we might work together to deliver a programme of music of all types in the Castle.
Lastly, many of you have asked how you might get involved with the gardens, and we are working with a well known garden design company, the Landscape Agency, to get our ideas together. We are considering the development of a community walled garden on site, which will give volunteers and apprentices the opportunity to shape some parts of our landscape and return them to their beauty of the past.
At some point in the next few months, we will be blogging about reminiscences of the Castle. If you have any memories from your childhood of events that took place in the Castle, or adventures that you had here, please let us have your stories on enquiries@aucklandcastle.org – we would love to hear from you.
