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A £1.5m bid has been submitted to the Heritage
Lottery Fund on the back of a wave of support for Bank Hall's restoration.
Campaigners are optimistic that funds to rebuild the hall, at Bretheton,
near Chorley, to its former glory will be made available after collecting
a massive 40,000 votes in the recent BBC TV series Restoration.
About 6,000 people from all over Britain, and from abroad, have also visited
the hall in the past 12 months and supported a series of events and open
days.
Bank Hall chairperson Janet Edwards told the TV company, who are making
a follow-up programme to the Restoration series, that this may be Bank
Hall's last chance of major restoration.
Sadly, however, Autism Initiatives, who were planning to turn the hall
into an adult residential college, have withdrawn from the project. The
charity needs new accommodation urgently and has left the partnership with
regret. Bank Hall Action group wishes them all the best in their future
operations.
The second Lottery Bid has been submitted by Heritage Trust for the North
West along with a new £10,000 feasibility study by Bristol-based
architects Niall Phillips. Bank Hall Action Group has contributed £2,000
to the study.
While the architects suggest the most viable end use for the restored building
would be private housing, the Action Group is still open minded about a
worthwhile end user.
The Lottery Bid was submitted following a meeting of interested parties:
the Heritage Trust for the North West, owners the Lord Lilford Trust, Bank
Hall Action Group and Chorley Borough Council The total cost of restoring
the shell of the hall will be approximately £3m.
Anyone planning to
refurbish the hall will therefore need significant funds but approaches are
welcome.
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2002 was a busy and eventful time at Bank Hall.
Following seven years of campaigning to save the hall we finally saw the first phase of structural work to arrest the deterioration of the building. £50,000 has been spent on essential repair work and strengthening of the prospect tower.
Stainless steel anchors and steel frames now pin and hold the walls together, hopefully preventing further widening of the cracks that run down the west wall.
The cracking and bulging wall at the base of the tower on its northwest corner has been dismantled and rebuilt.
The tower has once again got a roof. This is a temporary wooden structure at the height of the clock-room floor. This means that rain water is now prevented from falling into the tower and is drained off via a pipe. Dangerous cracked brickwork inside the tower has been removed, avoiding further collapse and lightening the weight on the weakened top section of the tower.
Some doors and windows have been temporarily bricked up to strengthen the structure until full restoration work can be carried out.
Rubble and timbers, which had fallen onto the 17th century staircase, have been removed during the repair work, although a great deal of rubble still remains at the bottom of the staircase.
The tower repair work was funded by English Heritage, The Lilford Trust, Heritage Trust for the North West and the Bank Hall Action Group.
Not surprisingly the work went over budget as unforeseen complications inevitably arise with this kind of project. This meant that one part of the work could not be completed. It had been planned to rebuild the northeast corner of the tower (which collapsed over 20 years ago) up to the height of the temporary roof. This had been only partly achieved. Proceeds from Bank Hall events to be held in 2003 will go towards completing this part of the tower work.
I would like to thank everyone who has supported the Bank Hall Action Group over the last year, indeed over the past seven years.
We are grateful and much encouraged by your support. We hope that you have enjoyed your visits to the hall and the events held there. Thank you for your good wishes, your letters of encouragement and your donations to the concept of a restored Bank Hall.
The events at the hall are going from strength to strength. We now have a calendar reflecting the spirit of the seasons from snowdrop Sundays in February through to the popular pre Halloween event in October.
New events currently under construction for 2003 include a horse-shoeing contest and a party for spring, both planned for April.
Saturday 1st June 2002 was a magical evening. Will Shakespeare visited Bank Hall in the shape of Illyria who performed ‘as you like it’ in perfect conditions. Illyria will be visiting the hall again in 2003 with ‘The Merchant of Venice’ on Saturday 31st May.
Please watch the website for a full list of events which will be updated as things are confirmed and finalised. Thanks once again for your support, all the best for 2003. See you at Bank Hall.
Yours sincerely
Geoff Coxhead, Chairman, Bank Hall Action Group
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