Blackburn Cathedral Named County’s Cultural Venue of the Year
Blackburn Cathedral has been named Lancashire’s Cultural Venue of 2018 in the County Tourism Awards.
More than 500 people were at the Marketing Lancashire awards ceremony, in the Imperial Banqueting Suite in Preston, on Wednesday November 7. The award was accepted by the Dean of Blackburn, The Very Rev Peter Howell-Jones and Executive Director, Sharon Grayston.
The Cathedral caught the judges’ eye thanks to its hard work in providing a venue that appeals to a wide variety of community and visiting groups as well as individuals; all of whom hail from all points of the compass.
The citation that accompanied the award mentioned the Cathedral team’s strong commitment to volunteering, its ability to provide a warm welcome to all visitors, the diversity of the events that took place in the building, and the professionalism of the service provision.
The Dean said today:
The judges also said that the Cathedral had clearly become a catalyst for the transformation of Blackburn town centre, which we found particularly satisfying.
The judging process was rigorous: after a substantial session of form filling, the Cathedral team of the Dean, Executive Director Sharon Grayston, and Canon Rowena Pailing, were grilled by a panel of four judges, who then paid an unannounced visit to the Cathedral to see if the claims made were bona-fide!
It was as a result of that visit that the Cathedral was declared the winner in its category.
Said the Dean:
We were the only visible Christian organisation in a room full of more than 500 people, representing more than 100 organisations. Cathedrals are both tourist and cultural venues, and here was an opportunity to explain what we do and how we do it. The judges clearly liked what they heard and saw when they visited us!
