A GRANT for £1,000 has been awarded to Knutsford Promenades Community Association, as they bid to improve upon last year’s Heritage Open Days event this September.

Cheshire East Council’s cabinet member for communities, Cllr Paul Bates, approved the grant – one of six to be awarded to events across the borough – last Monday.

The group was awarded the full amount it requested, which will help the event add a number of features including details of Wilmslow mathematician Alan Turing’s trial at the old sessions house in Toft Road – the newly-refurbished Courthouse Hotel.

A report to Cllr Bates recommended that the grant towards the total cost of £15,000 be approved to help ‘develop the event further to become sustainable through commercial sponsorship and other sources.’

Sarah Flannery, co-organiser of the Open Days events, said: "The inaugural Knutsford Heritage Open Days proved to be an enormous success with some 4,000 visitors coming to the town over the four days.

“Cheshire East Council’s continued support of the Knutsford Promenades Community Association is vital to encouraging other businesses to invest in the cultural economy of the town and its environs.

"This grant, combined with our wonderful sponsors, country-wide partnerships and national interest, means we can put the finishing touches to our programme for Knutsford Heritage Open Days 2017 – it's going to showcase Knutsford in a new and exciting way."

Last year’s events spanned four days from September 8 to September 11, celebrating 1,000 years of history from 1016 through to 2016.

Julie Tempest, co-organiser, said: "As volunteers, we invest a great deal of our skills and time into the association.

"It makes a big impact that our investment as volunteers is being supported by Cheshire East Council's community funding."

The return of the Heritage Open Days this year, between September 7 and September 10, will include a feature on the 65th anniversary of Alan Turing’s trial, thanks to collaboration with the Courthouse Hotel in Toft Road.

The ground-breaking scientist and mathematician spent much of his life in Wilmslow, and was prosecuted after admitting ‘acts of gross indecency’ for homosexual acts before being sentenced to chemical castration.

He was posthumously pardoned in 2013 following a public apology in 2009 by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown.