EACH autumn, The Craven Trust reflects on the past year’s grant-giving to community groups across the district. Trustee, Simon Robinson explains how the charity’s grants help to keep Craven special.

WE all know Craven is a beautiful place to live. What cold heart could fail to be warmed by the first dusting of snow on Ingleborough? Who can resist a cosy Skipton café? Or a Dales walk on a summer morning?

What you might not know is that Craven is also officially the UK’s happiest place – or so reported the Office of National Statistics in 2017.

What makes our area so special? Well, the Trustees of the Craven Trust believe we may have found the answer. It is the many hundreds of people in our towns and villages who give up their time voluntarily to run community groups and events, and to support people in need.

We try to make their task a little easier by providing money to help. Last year, together with our sister charity, the Beamsley Trust, we supported 31 organisations. Our average contribution was just over £1,000.

Each year, we receive around 50 applications for support from voluntary groups across Keighley and Craven. To make the difficult decisions about which to fund with grants, we visit as many as we can. At every visit, we are amazed by the hard work and determination of people to make this area a better place to live.

Grants can help in many different circumstances. For example, villagers in Langcliffe, Settle, were devastated when they lost use of their allotments after 100 years of fruit and vegetable growing. Residents got together to discuss how to respond to the loss and decided to open a community garden for the benefit of all.

Villagers donated enough money to buy a plot of land, on which they carved out a meadow, planted fruit trees and set aside an area for communal vegetable growing. Resident David Croll applied to us for help purchasing a lawnmower to avoid having to borrow a specialist one each time they cut the grass. We were pleased to donate £250 and the community can now keep the garden looking beautiful. Afterwards, David said “having our own mower has made such a difference – it does a very good job and is always there when we need it!”

The Craven Trust was also pleased to donate £640 to support the Golden Oldies, a singing group for isolated older people, who wanted to set up new groups in Silsden, Embsay and Cross Hills. Joining a memory-invoking sing-a-long group can have enormous benefits for those living on their own and especially those with dementia.

The grant was used to buy music equipment, songbooks and percussion equipment, and the new groups are now in full swing. Grenville Jones, told us: “This would not have been possible without the Craven Trust.” One attendee, Heather from Silsden, said: “It’s so enjoyable to sing old songs and lovely to meet new friends”.

One of the most inspiring people the Trust has had the good fortune to work with is Saima Hussain, the first Asian woman to play for Great Britain’s Rugby League team. Now head of the Community Cougars Foundation in Keighley, the trust awarded £1,500 for Saima and the foundation to coach disadvantaged boys and girls. Saima told us our grant helped improve the confidence and fitness of the participants, as well as building understanding and breaking down barriers between young people from different cultural backgrounds in the town.

Finally, £815 went to volunteers Jill Webster and Katie Birks to set up a new Girl Guiding group in Skipton to cope with growing demand from girls eager for a taste of outdoor adventure. The group, the 7th Skipton St Stephen’s, had no money to buy tents for their camping trips. We were happy to help.

Jill explained that some of the girls had never been camping before and the tents are “everything we wanted”. Katie, whose daughter attends the group, said our grant allowed the girls to focus their own fundraising on other good causes as “it is important that they learn to support the wider community, and not just themselves”. The tents are expected to last 10 years or more, providing adventures for 200 Skipton girls.

The Beamsley Trust has a different focus, making grants to benefit local people in need. Last year, for example, we were pleased to make donations to help people needing end of life care, we funded residential trips for local children with disabilities and paid for equipment to benefit people with mental health problems.

In total, the Craven and Beamsley Trusts made grants of £33,044 in their last financial year. We are able to support so many local good causes thanks to donations and bequests made by generous local people who want to give something back to their local community.

The Craven Trust welcomes applications from community groups across Keighley and Craven. If you have a community project needing support you can learn more by visiting www.craventrust.org.uk, or you could contact the Trust’s Administrator, Rowena at enquiries@craventrust.org.uk or 07954 803327.

You can use the same contact details if you’d like to help the charity support more local people and projects by making a donation or leaving a gift in your will.