How has the WMF Watch helped:
Watch nominator Brigadier Jeremy Gaskell tells WMF how Watch listing has helped to secure the future of Selby Abbey
Brigadier Jeremy Gaskell is the Director of the Selby Abbey Appeal, which he founded in 1999. The role of the Appeal is to raise funds for the Selby Abbey Trust and secure further funding for the extensive restoration programme required in order for the abbey to remain open.
Address the Threats?
“A big problem facing Selby is that despite the abbey being a cathedral size church, it carries the status and financial clout of a parish church. The Appeal, working with the project architect, identified seven major areas of works, as part of a larger restoration project spread over eight or nine years, to save the abbey and keep it open to the parish. Six of the seven projects are now complete, thanks to the funds the appeal - together with the World Monuments Fund - has raised. The seventh and final project of the extensive restoration project has just been granted World Monuments Fund Robert Wilson Funding, with completion of the appeal programme set for March 2009.”
Raise Advocacy?
“Being on the Watch provided new opportunities for the appeal and opened doors that we may not have otherwise been able to walk through. It gave us access to donors and organisations via the World Monuments Fund’s network.
The initial grant received from the Wilson Challenge, through the WMF, in 2002 created momentum for the appeal and provided the publicity and financial support to continue working when other funds weren’t coming in.”
Raise Funding?
“World Monuments Fund Watch Listing gave the appeal access to donors such as American Express and the Wilson Challenge Fund. A grant of $600,000 was received from the Wilson Challenge through the World Monuments Fund in 2002, shortly after listing on the Watch, to start Phase 3 of the restoration programme and complete phase 2. A second grant from the World Monuments Fund has just been awarded in order that the Trust can go ahead with phase 7 and complete the restoration programme.
The initial WMF grant provided the seed corn with which to develop other bids as many grants require match funding, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund. Funding from American and international sources, secured as a result of the Watch, gave us credibility as an appeal. Receiving substantial amounts through the WMF made us interesting to other funders, it gave a kudos to the appeal. Donations have been received from private American donors that may have been made possible by the advocacy of the Watch and the ensuing relationship developed between Selby Abbey and the World Monuments Fund. ”
Grants & donations received from: WMF (Wilson Challenge), The Heritage Lottery Fund, numerous charitable trusts, such as The Prince of Wales Charitable Trust and private donations, UK and America.
The Community?
Selby Abbey is a parish church, open for prayer and worship everyday of the year. It is an integral part of Selby. However, the parish suffers from a high level of unemployment, higher than the national average. The town has been dependent in the last fifty years on four major industries – ship building, power generation, mining and cattle food production, all of which have declined dramatically. With Selby’s social and economic problems standing in tandem with the worst of the west and the east country, It was vital that the abbey was restored in order that it remains open to offer help to anyone in the community. The abbey offers a focus for the community when there is no focus left. The abbey also brings in much needed income from the limited tourism the abbey receives. Numbers are limited by the fact that Selby sits in the shadow of York Minster, and cannot compete with the surrounding attractions. Despite this the abbey receives over 30,000 visitors a year. These people are essential not only for the abbey but also for the town of Selby as a whole.
Despite the underlying poverty of this former coalfield area, the community fund raising effort that goes on is relentless. It demonstrates the abbey’s important role and standing within the community, which was one of the key reasons that WMF Britain supported its application for to the Watch list
Rev Keith Jukes, Dean of Ripon Cathedral and formerly Vicar at Selby Abbey, tells WMF how vital the survival of the Abbey is to the Selby community:
“The importance of Selby Abbey today is far wider than one might imagine. As the only visitor attraction in a town which has witnessed the demise of several major industries, those who visit the Church also contribute to the economic wellbeing of the town. Shops, cafes and hotels all benefit from the visitor footfall which has tripled in the last ten years.
Someone recently wrote that: “Selby Abbey is a real success story”. If that is true then the ‘success’ has been built on the publicity given to the Abbey through the World Monuments fund. This publicity was the catalyst for the recently completed £4.5 million stonework restoration.”
