As we look forward to 2024, we’d like to reflect on some of the achievements our huge team of local volunteers and small number of staff have delivered in 2023.
The headline is that it was another record year for visitor numbers, with 89,000 people enjoying a day out with us, up from nearly 75,000 the year before. Increasing visitor numbers shows us that the changes we’re making are popular, encouraging us to keep going with them. It also means the charity is financial sustainable and can afford to continue conserving the fort for future generations, making improvements in the way we judge works best for our site, its story and our visitors. If you were one of our visitors this year, thank you. Your visit was a vital contribution to making Nothe Fort an exciting and well looked after heritage attraction.
We increasingly recognise the importance of events and actively supporting the success of groups within our community. We now run a calendar of family friendly activities, including turning our parade ground into a junior assault course during World War II week, our Easter Fair, ghostly Halloween experience and Christmas celebrations. We worked with Weymouth Town Council and Dorset Council to run a series of successful Youth Festivals. We have also collaborated with a fantastic range of local partners to develop events for new audiences e.g. Dog Friendly Social, As One Theatre, Weldmar and Dorset Youth Association.
A big weight off our shoulders was the completion of a major project to refurbish and update our lift, which had become increasingly unreliable. Paid for by your Gift Aid donations, this work means visitors with reduced mobility can be confident of always being able to access Nothe Fort’s three levels. Another significant maintenance issue that we’re now well on the way to getting on top of is dampness. It’s very hard to build an exciting modern museum experience when displays are covered in condensation! Thanks to an Arts Council England MEND grant of £320,000, essential work, such as repairing gutters and drains, sealing gaps and repointing, is well under way (you may have noticed the scaffolding on our wall above the harbour).
We were delighted to open several new permanent exhibitions this year. Women played a very real and vital role at Nothe Fort during World War II – aiming the guns relied on their observations and mathematics. We recognise their achievements in our Women at War room. Nothe Fort itself was part of a local network of forts and batteries designed to protect Royal Navy assets in Portland Harbour. We now tell that big picture story in our three interlinked Portland Harbour rooms.
All these achievements are motivating in themselves, but we were also delighted to receive formal recognition from our peers and wider community. During the year, we won ‘Tourism Business of the Year’ at the Weymouth & Portland Business Awards, won ‘Outstanding Tourism Business’ at the West Dorset Business Awards, and achieved Bronze for ‘Best Small Visitor Attraction’ at the Dorset Tourism Awards. Our volunteers won ‘Volunteer Team of the Year’ award at the Dorset Centre Volunteer Awards, and Carlen Williams was presented with a ‘Young Volunteer of the Year’ award.
Everything we do is part of a plan to achieve our vision of making Nothe Fort an excellent heritage attraction that’s a fundamental part of Weymouth’s tourism offer and an inspiring example of great community-lead delivery. We would like to thank our amazing team for their energy and dedication to delivering the plan during 2023, as well as thanking everyone who visited us because you too are part of our journey.
We’ve got a lot more to deliver in 2024, not least completing the damp mitigation work, opening up a new siege exhibition in our humungous water cistern, an imaginative D-Day 80th anniversary exhibition and progressing designs for a new, fully immersive, highly engaging Cold War gallery in our nuclear bunker. We look forward to making progress with these tasks and welcoming you all back to Nothe Fort next year.
James Farquharson, Chairman of Nothe Fort
