Mayflower tourism in Bassetlaw gets huge boost with Lottery funding

I was thrilled to hear this week that the council has been successful with its bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) which will allow Bassetlaw to shout about its pilgrim heritage as it prepares to celebrate 400 years since the Mayflower left these shores for the New World, writes Coun Simon Greaves, Bassetlaw Council leader.

A total of £776,000 worth of investment, with almost £450,000 of funding provided by the HLF, will enable the council to create a state of the art pilgrims gallery at Bassetlaw Museum and an enhanced pilgrims trail, as well as employing additional staff who will help to tell the story of William Brewster, William Bradford and their fellow pilgrims.

This funding is the culmination of four years’ hard work, but there is now more hard work ahead to bring all of these grand plans to fruition.

Thanks to National Lottery players, the visitor experience and economy is going to be greatly improved and the area will be in a better position to attract many new visitors and give US descendants who have previously travelled here a reason to return.

This announcement is a real boost for north Nottinghamshire and Bassetlaw will now be at the forefront of commemorative plans for the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower reaching America in 2020.

There are a few changes currently taking place to how council housing is provided in Bassetlaw.

From Monday, October 1, all of the services previously provided by A1 Housing will come back under the management of the council.

This process will allow the council to make savings of around £335,000 a year, which will be reinvested back into the services tenants value the most, such as repairs, dealing with anti-social behaviour and increasing value for money.

I’d like to reassure tenants that they should not experience any noticeable changes to the housing services they receive, such as how their tenancies are managed, how they report repairs or how they pay their rent.