Yorkshire Rural Community Council is dead, long live Rural Action Yorkshire! It signals the end of a name that has long been associated with the countryside. Sally Rawlings is the chief executive of the organisation, that officially changes its name at the end of September.

She has been at the helm for three years, a time which she believes has seen immense change in the way rural communities are served both by the operation she fronts and through government policy.

"In terms of the things that have changed since I have been here there have been two main elements. Firstly, national policy has changed on rural issues in that there isn't a rural policy anymore. Secondly, we have moved the organisation forward into the 21st century."

Cynics would say that a name change hardly constitutes moving
forward, seeing merely a bureaucratic change, usually involving expensively produced new logos and branding.

Sally is quick to refute that. "We want money to go into helping support rural communities, so there's going to be no big splash over the name change.

"We've changed it because we wanted to show everybody that we really are a modern-thinking, efficient rural organisation.

"The Yorkshire Rural Community Council was so-named over 80 years ago and we felt we needed a name that more accurately and dynamically reflected what we do and why we do it.

"There was also an added complication that last year's Local Government and Public Health Act allows parish councils to change their name to community councils, and we wanted to avoid potential name clashes in the future.

"We are still working to enable rural communities to reach their aspirations, and we are still, indeed even more so than ever, representing the voice of rural communities to help them achieve what they want.

"In more recent times we have placed a far greater emphasis on working with other sectors too. Partnership working is now one of our cornerstones. The emphasis on co-ordination and collaboration with the voluntary and community sectors was something that we have always done, but now we are using it more effectively when putting together such as joint funding bids."

Rural Action Yorkshire, or indeed Yorkshire Rural Community Council, is a charity organisation.

Its funding goes to support what rural communities most need, but the funding doesn't come easily and this year it will receive far less than the previous two years.

"For the past two years we have been very fortunate in having extra funding. It was more than we had previously because DEFRA had some left-over programmes that needed running. Those came down to rural communities to run, so we had nearly £1m additional funding each year, but now we haven't got that."

So how effective will Rural Action Yorkshire be with its less funding, and fewer staff, yet a new name?

"We are totally committed to community-led planning, which involves producing the documents that lead to funding.

"We have always played a major part in assisting rural communities with developing their village halls as centres of their area, and in making the best of playing fields. We are also heavily involved in work that leads to new rural housing provision and having access to all services."

Woodsetts, near Sheffield, which won a major award last year for its community work was a prime example of a community that has benefited from a new village hall in recent times, while the new, state-of-the-art Two Dales Project up in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale in North Yorkshire involves video links that help those in outlying areas to access facilities such as getting hold of a bus pass, a village shopping club where you can buy groceries on-line and have them delivered, and a homework club for schoolchildren .

The project is being run in the Swaledale village of Reeth, as well as Marrick, Gunnerside, Muker, and Keld.

"These projects wouldn't have happened without the work we undertook, and shows just how effective we can be in providing what communities need."

Sally applauds a recent government move, but feels it falls short of what is needed. "The Communities and Local Government Department have published a White Paper on community empowerment which is great. It says an awful lot of things, a great deal of which we are already effecting, but what they haven't included is any recognition that communities need supporting. You can't just say 'Go on and get on with it'.

"In the meantime we have a lead person in each of North, South and West Yorkshire and a lead person on village halls and playing fields. They also have their own teams. It's always a scrabble for funding but we know that our work really does make a difference, whether we are called Yorkshire Rural Community Council or Rural Action Yorkshire. We just want to bring about even more action in the future!"