A DALES charity is urging people to apply for grants of up to £10,000 for conservation projects in the Ingleborough area before time runs out early next year.

Clapham based Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) is offering cash for projects that restore, celebrate or increase understanding of the area’s natural, historical and cultural features.

Projects before include the restoration of historical features, improving footpaths, walk leaflets about archaeological features on Ingleborough, books about aspects of the area’s heritage, improving facilities for visitors to farms, new interpretation panels at The Folly about Settle’s history, habitat conservation work, and surface work at Thwaite Lane near Clapham.

The grants are part of Stories in Stone, a programme of community and heritage projects developed by the Ingleborough Dales Landscape Partnership, which is led by YDMT and mainly funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Chris Lodge, Stories in Stone project officer, urged people to get their applications in by the January 7 deadline.

“The Heritage Grant scheme provides an opportunity for residents and groups to run a project that helps to protect an important element of the area’s rich historical and natural heritage that they value.

“Stories in Stone comes to its conclusion next year so this will be the last opportunity to apply for a grant. We expect competition to be high and we’ll need to prioritise the projects that we can fund, but we’ll support as many as we can.”

Stories in Stone is enabling people from all backgrounds and of all ages to learn about, enjoy and help manage the stunning limestone landscape around Ingleborough, both above and below ground.

The programme is delivering a huge number of projects including restoring field barns, historical features and wildlife habitats, involving people in archaeological digs, digitising archives, and providing a range of training opportunities.

For more information, contact Chris by emailing chris.lodge@ydmt.org or by phoning 015242 51002.