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Greater Manchester venues receive millions from Culture Recovery Fund
The Lowry, National Football Museum and Band on the Wall are among the recipients of a £58 million pot for culture sites in the north.
Northern venues have received over £58 million from the government’s latest round of emergency funding designed to support arts and heritage institutions during the pandemic.
The Culture Recovery Fund has supplied £300 million in grants to over 2,700 organisations – as well as £81 million in tailor-made loans for cultural landmarks.
A number of Manchester sites are set to take a further portion of the overall pot – including galleries, museums and clubs.
The Lowry in Salford will receive £7.3 million – which will go towards funding community outreach and caring for the prestigious LS Lowry collection.
The National Football Museum – which houses the largest public collection of football objects in the world – will receive £239,721; with the extra funding used to support the museum reopening to the public in the summer.
Chief Executive of the National Football Museum Tim Desmond said the organisation was “over the moon.”
Elsewhere on the recipients list, Manchester Pride is set for a £553,642 boost, with Greater Manchester Arts Centre getting £375,000 and Manchester Young People’s Theatre enjoying £96,555.
The University of Manchester has received further funding for Whitworth Art and Manchester Museum, with Oldham Coliseum Theatre handed £56,600.
Beloved music venue Band on the Wall also confirmed it would take a six-figure sum from the pot – being awarded a grant of £154,000.
Gavin Sharp, CEO, Band on the Wall stated: “The pandemic continues to put cultural organisations at risk of closure, and while there is some light at the end of the tunnel, these are still incredibly challenging times in our sector.
“The Cultural Recovery Fund represents an essential lifeline to Band on the Wall, and we are now one step closer to bringing much-missed live music to the stage again.”
Over 48 Manchester venues benefitted from the initial round of funding back in September.
Nonetheless, there were a number of glaring omissions. The most high profile of which was iconic comedy club Frog & Bucket – which failed to get the £60,000 it asked for.
The venue was ultimately saved by fans and performers from closure via donations.
Several venues – including the Frog – that have struggled during the pandemic have launched a special event to raise vital funds ahead of reopening to customers called Manchester’s Big Night In – which will take place on April 10.
News
Greater Manchester public urged to help get people ‘off the streets and on their feet’ before Christmas
Emily Sergeant
Locals are being urged to help get hundreds of people “off the streets and back on their feet” this festive season.
As the temperatures told colder by the day, and Christmas creeps closer and closer, Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity is bringing back ‘1000 Beds for Christmas’, and the massively-important initiative is aiming to provide 1,000 nights of accommodation to people at risk of homelessness before the big day arrives.
Forming part of the ongoing ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme, this festive fundraising mission is designed to provide food, shelter, warmth, and dedicated vital wrap-around support for those who need it most.
The charity says it wants to build on the “incredible success of 2023”, which raised more than £55,000 and provided 1,800 nights of accommodation.
Stockport-based property finance specialists, Together – which has supported the campaign for the last two years – has, once again, generously pledged to match every public donation for the first £20,000 raised.
Unfamiliar with the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme? Since 2017, when rough sleeping peaked, the initiative has helped ensure a significantly-higher rate of reduction in the numbers of people facing a night on streets in Greater Manchester than seen nationally.
The landmark scheme has given people the chance to rebuild their lives, while also giving them access to key services and opportunities that allows them to stay off the streets for good.
Despite the scheme’s recent success, organisations across Greater Manchester are under “a huge amount of pressure” to meet the demand for their services this winter, and given the current economic outlook, household budgets will continue to be squeezed – leaving people on the sharp end of inequality and poverty.
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“Help us be a lifeline to organisations on the frontline,” Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity urged in it’s public appeal for donations.
You can help make sure ‘A Bed Every Night’ is a reality for all by donating here.
Featured Image – EthelRedThePetrolHead (via Flickr)
News
Former Manchester police officer jailed after sexually assaulting a child while on duty
Emily Sergeant
A former Manchester police officer has been jailed after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a child while he was on duty.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) explained that, on 29 December 2023, Dean Dempster was one of three officers responding to a domestic incident involving an adult and children, and it was while he was taking an account from a six-year-old girl, away from his colleagues, that he sexually abused her when he should have been there to protect her.
After GMP investigated a complaint received later that evening in relation to the incident, Dempster was immediately confronted by his supervisor when he returned to duty the next morning.
The 35-year-old was arrested that day by officers in Oldham, and then “relentlessly pursued” by GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate to “explore any further evidence of offending” in an investigation directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
A review of Dempster’s electronic devices revealed “further serious offending”, GMP revealed, including the making of indecent images of children.
Sadly, the police investigation also found images on Dempster’s mobile phone taken from his body-worn video camera at the incident in December 2023 of a second clothed child, and of another clothed child at a separate incident dating back to 2022 – with the victims of both families having been made aware, and kept updated throughout the investigation
Dempster was convicted and sacked “at the earliest legal opportunity” by the Chief Constable at an accelerated misconduct hearing in May this year, and he has since admitted six counts of making indecent images, and two counts of Misconduct in Public Office.
After pleading guilty, the former officer has now been jailed for nine years, and has also been ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
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Deputy Chief Constable, Terry Woods, said Dempster “represents the very worst of society”.
“He is not a police officer, he is a child sex offender, a criminal, and he has no right to be near police uniform or serve the public,” DCC added. “Dempster was rightfully arrested and charged before he could ever work in our communities again.”
Featured Image – GMP
The Manc -
2nd April 2021 
