Grants 2024

SVTEC – The Stroud Vintage Transport and Engine Club

Each year SVTEC hold the Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza, and are kind enough to donate the profits to a range of local charities.  We are grateful and delighted to have been awarded a grant of £1000.

We plan to use the grant to improve access to the upper floors of the Mansion for less able visitors, especially the elderly and disabled. There are two flights of stairs in the Mansion; one is very steep but has a good handrail, the other has shallow steps but only a partial handrail. It is difficult to find a good location for a lift, even if funds were available, and it is easy to understand why some people prefer to remain downstairs.

About 70% of the Mansion is visible from the ground floor. Visitors unable to go upstairs miss the bathroom, with its high quality stone carving (it also poses interesting points about Leigh’s building philosophy), the bat observatory, where the bats in the roosts above can be seen on CCTV, the carved owls in the courtyard, the wonderful wishbone shaped arches in the top floor south corridor, and the opportunity to see how the Cotswold stone roof is constructed.

From L to R: Owls in the courtyard, the top floor S corridor, carving in the bathroom

The plan for the grant is to film a tour of the upper floors of the Mansion. Visitors unable to go upstairs can view it on an iPad while the rest of their party visit the first and second floors. They thus have a chance to share the tour experience with their family and friends.

SVTEC are holding their 50th anniversary Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza at South Cerney Airfield from 1st – 3rd August 2025. More info can be found here→