Our golden jubilee has been a year of celebration, participation and progress. Rescuing and repairing buildings remains the life blood of what we do, and in 2015 we opened three new Landmarks with the help of our supporters: Hougoumont farm on the battlefield of Waterloo, just in time for the bicentenary of the battle, Belmont House in Lyme Regis and St Edward’s Presbytery in Ramsgate. Each of these has in its way been pulled back from decay or dereliction and is now secure for centuries to come.
Landmarkers descend on Clavell Tower during our Golden Weekend
But more than bricks and mortar, 2015 has been overwhelmingly about people, a record-breaking year in which more people have stayed in, visited and experienced Landmarks than ever before. LAND, our pan-British sculpture installation by Antony Gormley, brought a whole new audience to Landmark, as did the wonderful ‘Anthem for Landmark’ choral project, now nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Music award.
Our buildings were 85% full in 2015, more popular than they have ever been, and 9 million people saw the craftsmanship and expertise that underpins our work through the Channel 4 series ‘Restoring Britain’s Landmarks’. Meanwhile the average cost per person per night of our buildings remains well under £50, and hundreds of people most in need of rest have experienced the joy and inspiration of our places through the ‘50 For Free’ scheme.
The Battle of Waterloo re-enacted on its 200th anniversary at Hougoumont
Landmark exists to save buildings and to further people’s enjoyment of historic places. That we have been able to do both in spades this birthday year is a tribute to how much these causes matter to everyone, and proof of how important it is that our work continues as we enter our next half century.
Read more about the year in our 2015 Annual Review