Churches Tourism Association

Inspired North East has been set up by the Diocese of Newcastle and the Diocese of Durham, part-funded by Enlgish Heritage, aimed at helping to maintain and develop church buildings in the North-East of England. The new role of Development Officer for the Newcastle Diocese has been taken on by Andrew Duff and David Lovie (on a job-share basis) since April 2010, and by Peter Biggers for Durham Diocese since September 2010.

Their task is to help local people improve the quality and accessibility of church buildings across a very large area stretching from the River Tees to the Scottish border in the north and Alston and Haltwhistle in the East.

More information on the Inspired North East web pages for Durham and Newcastle and below...

David Lovie is a heritage consultant and writer, who initiated the Grainger Town regeneration project in Newcastle and is the author of a guidebook to Newcastle Cathedral. Andrew Duff is a tourism and heritage consultant who has worked for VisitBritain and the Churches Conservation Trust. Peter Biggers is a town planner, formerly head of planning for Alnwick District in Northumberland.  

The Support Officers project, part of English Heritage’s on-going Inspired! campaign, was launched in December 2008 by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham. Since then English Heritage has part-funded 30 Support Officers to help congregations of all faiths all over the country. For more information on the English Heritage Support Officer scheme and its Inspired! campaign, visit the English Heritage Inspired webpages.