The Herald has thrown Penrith’s celebrated Winter Droving festival a £15,000 lifeline, amid claims from organisers Eden Arts that vital funding has been “withdrawn” by Westmorland and Furness Council.
The council denies that any additional cash was promised for this year’s event, and says financial support in previous years has been on a “one off” basis.
A crowdfunding campaign was launched by Eden Arts this week, asking for public donations to support the Droving — a colourful, fiery celebration of rural culture which brings thousands of visitors to the town and boosts the local economy by millions of pounds.
Within hours of the launch, say Eden Arts, they were told that money they had expected to receive from Westmorland and Furness was not coming.
The council says it has provided “core” funding to Eden Arts to the tune of £35,000 this year and it cannot meet the request for further, earmarked, cash for the Droving.
Amid the row between Eden Arts and the council, the owners of Barrnon Media — the Eden-based parent company of the Herald, the Keswick Reminder and Cumbria Crack — have stepped up with a donation of £15,000 to support the Droving.
Commenting on the move, Eden Arts director Adrian Lochhead said: “The support from the Herald is amazing, particularly as it steps into the gap we have in council support.
“The Herald has been a great part of the Droving since the start, with its coverage of the event and publishing the programme and, probably unknown to many, even financial support. This year the Herald takes that to a new level. We and the town and area are very grateful to something that in many ways epitomises the area — the traditional local newspaper. Thank you!”
However, there is still a funding shortfall of £15,000 which has put the event’s future in doubt — making it even more vital that people support its crowdfunding drive if the Droving is to survive.
In a statement to the Herald this week, Eden Arts said: “Just a day after announcing that it needs to crowdfund to meet the ever increasing costs of delivering one of the region’s main events, organisers at Eden Arts received news that Westmorland and Furness Council have withdrawn the usual local authority funding of the event, creating even greater financial problems and making its future uncertain beyond 2024.
“The Winter Droving has been one of the county’s major success stories in the last two decades, tens of thousands of people flocking to Penrith every year to have a great time and celebrate the local heritage and town.
“The economic impact alone is £2m on the local traders, accommodation providers and tourism.”
Mr Lochhead pinpointed the relationship with new unitary council Westmorland and Furness — which took over from Eden Council amid local government reorganisation in 2023 — as being at the root of the problem.
He said: “The transition from Eden Council to W&F has been incredibly difficult. We had such a great relationship with the old council, it wanted the Droving as its signature event in Eden, it was proud of it, it funded it, and over the years we have even had council officers volunteering and doing jobs!
“The situation now is entirely different. Despite our best efforts to engage the new council, we have found it very difficult to navigate, leaving us uncertain where their priorities lie across the bigger area — perhaps Eden is not important.
“It certainly feels as though this event, which is of great significance to both locals and visitors, has been lost in the local government transition.
“We are very concerned that if it is not addressed as soon as possible it may prove the end for the Winter Droving in Penrith. Penrith will be facing having no significant events in the calendar — a loss that will be keenly felt by both locals and businesses alike.”
He said the fact costs had gone up since 2018 had been raised with Westmorland and Furness Council.
Last year, a post-Covid culture recovery grant was issued by the council, which was used to pay Droving debts after the event. No earmarked Winter Droving grant was given by the new council in 2023, whereas Eden District had in the past given a £15,000 grant, and sometimes more.
Financial support for the event also comes from a raft of local backers, including businesses, Penrith BID, Penrith Town Council, the Penrith Lottery and the national Arts Council of England.
Responding to Eden Arts’ claims, a Westmorland and Furness Council spokesman said: “Westmorland and Furness Council supports Eden Arts and values its work contributing to arts and cultural activities in the Eden area.
“The council, and its predecessor Eden District Council, has provided significant funding support to Eden Arts over many years. In the current 2024-25 financial year, the council has maintained the core funding to Eden Arts of £20,000 and this has not been reduced.
“In addition, a one-off uplift payment of £5,000 has been allocated that the council suggested could go towards Winter Droving, along with a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) contribution of £10,000, making a total funding contribution from Westmorland and Furness Council of £35,000 in the current financial year.
“Last year, in addition to the core funding and NPO contribution, Eden Arts were awarded a one-off payment of £25,000 towards the costs of Winter Droving 2023, from the council’s Culture Recovery Support Fund.”
The statement added: “It was made clear to Eden Arts in 2023 that the funding from the Culture Recovery Support Fund was a one-off grant to help to mitigate those immediate and pressing issues.
“The council has repeatedly made clear that this was never intended to be recurring funding and should not be considered as such — and that organisations receiving help from the fund should be mindful of this when planning future programmes.
“It would therefore be incorrect to suggest that specific funding for Winter Droving has been ‘cut’ from this year, as it was never allocated for 2024-25.
“Beyond the £35,000 funding that has already been allocated to Eden Arts for 2024-25, the council does not have money budgeted this year to cover any additional requests for the Winter Droving Festival.
“The council has already contacted Eden Arts to explain this and has suggested it is happy to be flexible around the use of the £35,000 funding if Eden Arts wishes to use some of that money towards the cost of this year’s Winter Droving Festival.”
Eden Arts maintained that the £35,000 “core funding” allocated by W&F was necessary to cover staffing costs and provide other events throughout the year, and was therefore not available to pay for the Winter Droving.
“Without the funding from Westmorland and Furness Council, the Winter Droving will not go ahead in 2025 in Penrith,” they said, adding that they now face a loss of around £30k without council funding for the event in 2024.
The Winter Droving crowdfunder can be found at The Big Give.
