Random Historical Moments

If anyone calls, say I'm not funding St Paul's

St Paul's Cathedral, one of the most visited buildings in Britain, has so far missed out on lottery funding because it does not appeal to a "wide enough range of people".

An application for almost £9 million to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) was withdrawn after fundraisers were advised that the restoration of England's most popular building "did not fulfil the criteria".

Reading the whole article I suspect this is actually as much about the maddening tendency of grant-giving bodies to think running costs (in this case general wear-and-tear type repairs) are a boring waste of time as it is about PC.

I also suspect it's time we accepted that English/British culture can, and should, get by on private enterprise (think Tolkien, think J.K. Rowling, Wallace and Grommet).

The cathedral has an online shop with, among other things, some very lovely CDs of its music.
(Though it would take a very long time to raise £9 million that way!)

posted by Brituncula @ 1:22 PM