Government gives £250,000 grant to Mayflower 400 commemorations

The Government has announced they'll putting £250,000 towards the Mayflower 400 commemorations.

The 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing will be celebrated in 2020. The ship left Plymouth on 16th September 1620 (according to the Gregorian calendar), arriving 56 days later on 11th November in Cape Cod on the East Coast of the United States.

The grant will be used to encourage American visitors to join those celebrations. It's estimated that 25 million US residents are able to trace their ancestry to a Mayflower passenger or crew member.

The announcement follows a recent visit to Plymouth’s historic waterfront area by Michael Ellis, Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism.

The money will also be used to create a digital Mayflower trail which hopes to bring to life individual stories, heritage and culture of each location involved in the commemorations. It's expected to be launched in November 2019.

The Mayflower 400 commemorations will form the main part of a wider, year-long national and international cultural programme connecting England, the United States, the native American Nation and the Netherlands in the four-nation commemoration.