Charity To Unlock £18,000 Treasure Chest In Support Of Yorkshire Parks
Environmental charity, Groundwork, has today announced that it will be unlocking an £18,000 ‘treasure chest’ to support community fundraising appeals in West Yorkshire. The two areas earmarked to benefit from this fundraising are the Norma Hutchinson Park in Chapeltown and Beech Rec in Sowerby Bridge.
[private]These two cash injections are part of Groundwork’s, ‘X Marks the Spot’ campaign which is encouraging people to celebrate treasured spaces in their local community. There are 20 million people in the UK who are missing out on the benefits of green spaces. This lack of natural stimulation is detrimental to health and general well being.
In Leeds alone there are over 4,000 hectares of park and open spaces, made up of over 800 parks, recreation grounds, playgrounds, sports facilities and allotments. Groundwork is urging Yorkshire folk to get behind their parks and start fundraising, if £9,000 is raised by the general public, it will be matched with £18,000, all of which will be spent on transforming and celebrating these two treasured spaces.
Norma Hutchinson Park – Chapeltown
Chapeltown residents experience higher levels of obesity and diabetes than the average Leeds inhabitant. This project aims to help tackle this head on with the introduction of a fitness trail around the main park in a bid to encourage local residents to increase their fitness levels and stop them falling into the trap of sedentary lifestyles, weight gain and insulin resistance.
The funding will be spent on the installation of a fitness trail as a circuit around the park, this will add a fantastic cardio-vascular exercise element and allow more people to use the space, meet one another and build community spirit. Seating and a picnic table will also be installed along with five large native trees to create a welcoming setting. Completely free to use, the fitness trail will be open every day of the year.
This is the second phase of development with Groundwork for the Norma Hutchinson park, £28,000 has previously been funded in re-developing the park for local residents.
Beech Road Recreation Ground – Sowerby Bridge
The transformation of the park began in 2009 with a group of local residents getting together to champion the park and bring it back into regular use for the local community. Working closely with Calderdale Council and Groundwork they have raised £205,000 from several grant funders and have made improvements to the facilities and appearance of the park. Transformation began with new feature gateways, including artwork designed by local children and construction of an exciting new play area.
There are, however, fewer facilities available for older people and the ‘X Marks the Spot’ campaign is looking to address this with the creation of a sensory garden. Aimed primarily at adults and the elderly, it will help to reduce social isolation and create intergenerational links as well as being a relaxing space for the whole community. The area identified is currently under-used and bland, with little planting and nowhere to sit. With funds raised from this appeal the group will create a tranquil sensory garden with curved wooden seating, a pergola and scented, tactile planting to appeal to the senses all year round.
Adrian Curtis, Executive Director of Groundwork Leeds, points to the 30 years of experience they have in helping millions of people across the UK take action to improve the environment and states it is evident that communities do care about where they live and can create better places, if given the right support.
He said; "We’re supporting these regeneration projects because we know that whether it’s a garden for quiet reflection, a place to get closer to nature or simply somewhere to kick a ball about, green spaces play a vital role in our communities. They're places to treasure and we want to mobilise the public, private businesses and politicians to protect and improve them.
“When you have less money you need more ideas. We now think it's urgent that everyone with an interest and passion in our parks and green spaces collaborate to develop new ways of working and funding this vital public service. We urge everyone to get behind this appeal by making a donation online via our X Marks the Spot website."
Groundwork’s announcement follows the launch of a new report by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF): ‘State of UK Public Parks 2014 Renaissance to risk?’ The report found that public parks are under threat and reveals a risk that could see them become run down ‘no go areas’ or even sold.
Key findings include:
• 34 million people make regular visits to parks
• 68% of park users consider time spent in their local park as important or essential to their quality of life
• 86% of park managers report cuts to revenue budgets since 2010, a trend they expect to continue over the next three years – potentially leading to park facilities being closed, grass left uncut, flower beds left empty, play areas less regularly cleaned and more anti-social behaviour due to less park staff.
Drew Bennelick, Head of Landscapes and Natural Heritage at The Heritage Lottery Fund, added; “Park user groups provide almost a million volunteer days and raise an estimated £30m each year through fundraising to support their upkeep. But more must be done to give them more support to expand upon their work.
“We invite the public and businesses to support Groundwork’s ‘X Marks the Spot’ campaign to get more people actively involved through fundraising and making the case for parks in modern life.”
If you want to support Norma Hutchinson or Beech Rec and help unlock the £18,000 treasure chest, or want to start your own fundraising for your sacred park, or indeed simply want to share your favourite treasured space then visit www.groundwork.org.uk/xmarks or follow #mytreasuredspace on social media.
Inner Wheel Of Leeds Raise £995 For Marie Curie
Inner Wheel Leeds held a Mad Hatters Blooming Great Tea Party to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care on Yorkshire Day. The tea party took place in Adel and included some delicious Yorkshire tea and cakes as well as a Tombola and Raffle.
All the money raised from the tea party will help Marie Curie Nurses to provide more free care to people with terminal illnesses in their own homes. As well as holding a Tea Party Inner Wheel Leeds have chosen Marie Curie Cancer Care as their charity for the year.
The link to the Inner Wheel came through the President Jenny Jones. Jenny cared for her mother and husband at home and chose to support Marie Curie as she does not want anyone to have to go through the same alone.
Jenny Jones, President of Inner Wheel Leeds said: “We had a fantastic time at our Blooming Great Tea Party and were delighted to raised over £995 for Marie Curie. It was a great day with some fabulous hats and we had a lovely day with friends new and old. All the money we raised will help Marie Curie Nurses provide more free care to terminally ill people in West Yorkshire as well as vital emotional support for their families. We are delighted to support Marie Curie Cancer Care for the whole year”
To get help from the Marie Curie Nursing Service, talk to your GP, district nurse or discharge nurse. For more information, please visit: www.mariecurie.org.uk.
Peter Cliffe Is Raising Money For St Gemma's
Peter Cliffe has been raising money for St Gemma’s Hospice for the last 10 years in a unique way. A motor mechanic by trade, Peter always had a passion for woodwork and his ambition as a youngster was to do an apprenticeship in joinery, but a lack of availability at the time meant that this never happened. Throughout his life however, he has spent much of his spare time making things out of wood as a hobby, creating gifts for family members.
Tragically, Peter has lost several members of his family and friends to cancer over the years, including his wife and both parents. This combined with his retirement he said “was a wake-up call.” He wanted to give something back to those who help people during illness and support loved ones at such difficult times.
Putting his lifelong love of wood into action, Peter began making bench seats, bird boxes, bird tables and other items from unwanted pallets and MDF, which he then donated to St Gemma’s Hospice for them to sell in their furniture shop on Harrogate Road. This has now continued for a decade and Peter has as much passion now for what he does as when he started, often arriving at his workshop at 5.30am!
However, this prolific contribution to the charity could not be made without help from other kind individuals. Steven Heinz owns the unit that Peter uses as his workshop and leases it to him free of charge, and all the pallets that are transformed into the wonderful items are donated by Coachwise Ltd, Armley, Dougie Beech warehouse manager said “we are happy to supply Peter with what he needs. We like that he does such marvellous work in the community and for such a good cause – if the company can give something back by helping someone like that we are very happy to help.”
St Gemma’s are very appreciative of the support they receive from him saying “Peter is a fantastic supporter who makes loads of interesting things for us to sell in our furniture shop. We are really grateful to him for helping our hospice to raise money.”
Showing no signs of hanging up his hammer and saws anytime soon, Peter remains modest about his contribution to the charity and instead just wanted to publicly thank all the people who enable him to continue through their kind donations of space and materials.
Why not visit St Gemma’s furniture store next time you are passing to have a look at Peter Cliffe’s creations, or perhaps you already have one in your home?
Charities To Receive A Years Worth Of Support And Fundraising From Sainsbury's Stores
Sainsbury's Otley and Sainsbury's Rawdon Apperley Lane have announced their chosen charities for the year.
Otley store's chosen charity is Otley Lions, and Rawdon Apperley Lane store's charity is Epilepsy Action.
The local charity scheme is now in its sixth year and customers and colleagues from both stores were given the chance to vote for their favourite charity.
Sainsbury's Otley store manager Paul Loughran said "for the last two years Otley Action for Older People were our charity and as well as giving support to the charity we raised over £10,000."
Store manager of Rawdon Apperley Lane store Ben Donnachie said "we have only been open a few months but we had a great response from our customers and Epilepsy Action (Yeadon) was chosen. We are looking forward to working alongside the charity to raise awareness as well as raising funds for them. We have already held a collection day, and a fundraising day is planned for September."
Epilepsy Action fundraising manager Di Flatt said "Money raised during this partnership will provide a lasting difference to the 53,000 people living with epilepsy across Yorkshire,this also means people in the local area hear a lot more about the support we provide".
Cash For Kids And The Leeds United Foundation Working Together To Help Children In West Yorkshire
Cash for Kids is the official charity of Radio Aire and Magic 828. They fundraise all year to help support children living in Leeds and West Yorkshire. Cash for Kids are unique in the fact that they support individual children, community groups, children’s hospices and other children’s charities by granting-out the funds they raise. By supporting Cash for Kids you are actually supporting hundreds of great causes in the local community.
Cash for Kids most recent grant round was held in July and £15,000 was granted to ten successful applicants. To see just some of the children they help go to www.radioaire.com/charity. In 2013 Cash for Kids raised £974,000 and helped over 21,000 children; this year they want to raise £1 million!
Cash for Kids have very kindly had five pairs of tickets for every Leeds United home game donated for this upcoming season, from The Leeds United Foundation. These tickets will be distributed to the disadvantaged and sick children that Cash for Kids work with across West Yorkshire. It will enable these children to experience a fantastic day out at a Leeds United match – something that they may never have had the chance to do, and may never get the opportunity again.
The Leeds United Foundation are a not for profit, grass roots sports charity, that exists to deliver targeted, high quality programmes that have a real and measurable positive impact on and which nurture the relationship between, the club, its fans and its communities. The charity operates under a Board of Trustees who provide guidance and support. The scheme delivers a wide range of sessions, courses and programmes within a broad based portfolio, designed to engage whole communities in the culture of the game.
The programmes include sports participation, health, social inclusion and educational programmes for children in and around the Leeds area. To add sustainability the programme adapts community development approaches to engage parents and families in physical activity and healthy lifestyle choices via the use of Healthy Living Days and Galas. By using football based activities for innovative learning material, we hope to inspire children and young people to improve their diet and nutrition and live a healthier lifestyle.
The Federation of Small Businesses are holding an event on Wednesday 10th September; hosted by The Leeds United Foundation and will see up to one hundred small businesses looking at the charitable work of the Foundation and its impact on the local community. Presentations will focus on showing business leaders the importance of engaging with community groups to create social impact and to improve the life chances of people from disadvantaged backgrounds. [/private]
