Bronze for Beamish!

Beamish won a bronze award at the 2016 VisitEngland Awards for Excellence in the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year category.

The museum was presented with the award at the stunning ceremony held at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool.

Sally Dixon, Assistant Director Partnerships and Communications, attended the awards. She said: “It was a real honour to represent the museum at the VisitEngland ceremony – as it’s down to the hard work and dedication of all of our staff and volunteers that we were nominated.

“We were delighted to bring home the bronze award – it’s fantastic for the museum and for the region to gain recognition on a national stage.”

The Whitworth, The University of Manchester, claimed the gold award and Brunel’s ss Great Britain in Bristol won silver. Chester Zoo and Salisbury Cathedral were highly commended in the same category.

Sally Balcombe, CEO of VisitBritain and VisitEngland, said: “We received hundreds of applications this year of an extremely high standard. Winning a bronze award is a considerable achievement, especially against such tough competition.

“Beamish Museum is now ranked as one of the top three businesses in their category for excellence in England and I warmly congratulate them on this achievement.”

Five other North East attractions celebrated success at the ceremony on 8^th March, including Rockcliffe Hall Hotel which took home gold in the Large Hotel of the Year category.

St Cuthbert’s House, in Northumberland, enjoyed double success, winning bronze in the Sustainable Tourism category as well as being highly commended in Bed & Breakfast/Guest Accommodation of the Year.

Highly commended accolades also went to Durham University’s Magna Carta Exhibition in the Tourism Event of the Year category, Seaham Hall for the Business Tourism award and to Martineau Guest House, Tynemouth, in the Taste of England award.

Lilian Groves, Tour Guide at Durham Cathedral, won this year’s national Tourism Superstar. She was revealed as the winner on 5th March, the start of English Tourism Week 2016.

Beamish’s Matthew Henderson, Engagement and Participation Team Assistant, was voted Tourism Superstar in the VisitEngland Awards 2015, with the ceremony held at the Sage Gateshead.

Beamish was named Large Visitor Attraction of the Year at the North East England Tourism Awards 2014 and 2015 and has attracted record visitor numbers in recent years, welcoming 671,330 visitors in 2015/16.

Further exciting times are ahead for the museum, which will open a chemist’s shop and photographer’s studio in its 1900s Town in May 2016.

The £17million Remaking Beamish project includes plans to build a 1950s Town, including cinema, shops, houses and cafe, and expand the Georgian area, including a coaching inn where visitors can stay overnight. The museum has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), with a decision on a second round of funding due to be made this summer.