A CLUB at a Keighley school designed to instil in youngsters the good habit of saving cash was visited by the Bishop of Bradford.

Right Reverend Dr Tony Howarth met pupils in the LifeSavers savings club at Keighley's Riddlesden St Mary's Primary School.

The club is funded by the Church of England and the Government and also backed by Bradford District Credit Union.

The bishop attended the savings club to meet those children who are diligently saving their pocket money in the credit union.

He said: "LifeSavers is a programme that puts financial education into the primary school curriculum.

"It has been a joy to meet these children from the ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ generation, who are learning the value of saving up for what they want."

Head Teacher Jan Hesselwood said: "We were delighted to have Bishop Toby visit our school savings club, and we're proud to be teaching children the value of a strong savings habit.

"Credit unions are ethical and faith inclusive, which is so important at our school that has a wide mix of children from different faiths."

Keighley East ward councillor Malcolm Slater said: “The credit union is a fantastic organisation and taking saving into schools to teach future generations is an excellent idea."

Ian Brewer, who is financial inclusion officer for the Bradford district, explained: "Credit unions are ethical membership co-operative financial institutions, where members save and borrow from the same pot in a defined geographical area.

"Our members are our shareholders, so unlike banks, we can keep lending rates down and lend to people who may otherwise be turned down from banks and turn to payday loans or loan sharks.

"Each city has its own credit union and we don’t pay interest on savings but rather a dividend, which is any surplus profit paid back to members.

"This makes us ‘Faith Friendly’ by giving Muslims a safe ethical place where they are not forced to take interest on savings which is against their faith.

"The Bradford Credit Union was started by the council almost 25 years ago and now has a membership of over 6,000 local people.

"I work with a network of community centres, schools and social landlords to promote financial inclusion with ‘jargon buster’ workshops that explains common but little understood terms like APR, Payday loans and credit score.

"The credit union works with the Church of England to run LifeSavers, a children's saving club.

"The Church and the Government have invested time and money to work with credit unions to create these children's savings clubs in primary schools."

People can e-mail credit.union@bdcu.co.uk or call 01274 434100 for information about the credit union, LifeSavers or the jargon buster workshops.