Five Gloucestershire organisations have been awarded £490,000 in the latest round of grants from the Government's Culture Recovery Fund.

The funding is designed to provide support for cultural organisations hit by coronavirus restrictions.

The biggest amount in the county among this round of grants went to the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust, based in Coleford, which received £146,000.

Gloucester City Council's Culture Services were awarded £100,000 with Gloucester Guildhall and the Museum of Gloucester poised to benefit from the windfall.

The Guildhall, which reopened its cinema at the start of the month, tweeted: We are delighted to announce that at this critical time, we have been awarded a grant from the #culturalrecoveryfund alongside @MuseumOfGlos."

The other awards were £126,973 to New Brewery Arts in Cirencester with the town also receiving £52,505 for School of Larks, which teaches circus skills, while Stroud Subscription Rooms was awarded £66,108.

The first round of grants announced last week saw a dozen organisations around Gloucestershire awarded nearly £4million.

Cheltenham Trust (£852,161) and Everyman Theatre (£832,000) topped the list with Cheltenham Festivals receiving £783,939.

The funding is to designed to enable socially-distanced performances to restart where safe to do so, venues to plan for reopening, protect jobs and create opportunities for freelancers.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: "This is more vital funding to protect cultural gems across the country, save jobs and prepare the arts to bounce back."

Organisations have been awarded grants under £1million in the first two rounds of funding.

Further details of grant awards of up to £3million and £270million in repayable cultural finance will follow in the coming weeks.