55m handout leads to chaos

Oooops. The Arts Council must have let its admin slip in the excitement of doling out 55m last week (DW 28 July).

The Friends of St Mary in the Castle in Hastings – known by the peculiar abbreviation, Fosmic – have said they’d be delighted to consider graphic design now they have an extra 1 362 263. But it was up to DW to inform them of the exact amount they were getting. “We haven’t heard a thing from the Arts Council. We wouldn’t know about it at all if we didn’t read the papers,” says chairman Roger Sweetman. And at Sedgefield District Council, the happy recipient of 109 000, the Official Contact for the development of Spennymore Leisure Centre knew “absolutely nowt” about it.