More help in widening horizons for urban groups

People and the Dales, run by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) charity, has been awarded £71,650 through the Big Lottery Fund and Natural England’s Access to Nature programme to continue its outreach programme.

The award comes as part of Access to Nature’s Supporting Change and Impact programme, where the project was awarded the maximum grant possible.

Liz Holdsworth of Natural England said: “I am really pleased that we are able to continue supporting this high achieving project and that I am able to carry on working with such a dedicated team.

“It will be great to see them deliver more activities with this additional funding and I hope it helps them to secure a sustainable future for the project.”

Thanks to this support, People and the Dales can continue to bring disadvantaged urban groups into the Dales to enjoy outdoor events including nature and landscape discovery walks, practical conservation and creative activities.

Since the project began in 2009, the health and well-being benefits associated with spending time outdoors in the countryside have been made available to more than 4,000 disadvantaged and often hard-to-reach individuals, encouraging a change in attitude towards outdoor activity in the natural environment.

The funding will also allow for further training of community group leaders and development of a new website and guide providing information and advice for community groups on taking their own visits to the Yorkshire Dales and the countryside.

Dave Tayler, YDMT’s deputy director and People and the Dales project manager, said: “This additional funding provides us with a superb opportunity to continue our ground breaking work for a further year. Not only can we enable even more people to enjoy and learn from the stunning beauty of the Yorkshire Dales we can also now create a lasting legacy to enable future generations to enjoy the benefits too.

“We are also looking forward to continuing our evaluation of the project so far, and we plan to share the lessons learnt and provide support to enable other organisations to undertake similar work.”