Generosity of former miner

Spiralling taxes, soaring unemployment and pervading fears over job security inevitably mean donations to charities take a sharp dip, especially at the very time the Government and other public sector bodies find that they have less money to offer in grants.

It is into this breach that the modern philanthropist steps.

How refreshing is the tale of Jimi Heselden, a former West Yorkshire miner who has evidently never forgotten his roots, despite his status as one of Britain's richest men.

While other manufacturers fall over themselves to leave these shores and reap the extra profits that cheap labour can afford them, he stays proudly committed to Leeds where he grew up.

Still the millions come rolling in for his firm, and just as quickly Mr Heselden ploughs them back into the community around him through acts of generosity that are quite staggering. Mr Heselden's latest donation follows the announcement earlier this week that Lord Sainsbury, the Conservative peer, is to give 25m towards the construction of a new wing at the British Museum.

Here, too, the money will be welcomed with open arms. Arts and cultural organisations, just like charities, are facing up to a challenging funding settlement that could have a devastating impact on Britain's cultural life.

Much has been made over recent years of the emergence of a "new philanthropy", led by such towering financial figures as the America tycoons Bill Gates and Warren Buffet who have followed the noblest of 19th century traditions characterised by Andrew Carnegie and his famous adage that "those who die rich, die disgraced".

As charities, museums, libraries and countless other worthy organisations hold their breath ahead of the next round of spending cuts and the inevitable social fall out, the generosity of those able to give, like Mr Heselden, has never been more important.