TEN organisations have been awarded funding as part of a new grants scheme launched by a Rotary club.

The initiative was set-up by the Haworth & Worth Valley club, through its own charitable trust, to support smaller groups in the district badly hit financially by the impact of the pandemic.

Nicholas Oughtibridge, a past president of the club and one of the trustees who considered the applications, said he was “absolutely delighted” at the response to the scheme from a diverse range of organisations.

“In fact we had so many worthy applications that we couldn’t meet all the requests for assistance in full,” he added.

“We decided to split-up the £2,000 available and give a sum of money to all the applicants we thought had made a good case for help.

“We plan to make the scheme a more regular feature of life for our Rotary club and now we’re going to set about raising sufficient money to have another round of grants available as soon as possible.”

The organisations to receive funding from the initial round of grants were Lees cum Cross Roads Village Association, It’s Worth Talking About, 6th Keighley (Oakworth) Scout Group, the Friends of Central Park Haworth, 1st Haworth Guides and Rangers, The Shed–Oakworth, Worth Valley Community Radio, Pass on Pre-loved Items Baby Bank, the Friends of Stanbury Village School and Keighley LGBTQ.

All the recipients will be mentioned in the Rotary club’s online Evening with John Humphrys, on Tuesday, June 15.

Mr Humphrys, former presenter of BBC Radio Four’s flagship programme Today and BBC TV’s Mastermind, will be taking questions from an audience in aid of charity.

Tickets are available for an ‘early bird’ price of £8.50 from haworthrotary.co.uk/go/john-humphrys.

Mr Oughtibridge said that following the success of the initial grants scheme, it was hoped to expand the programme.

He added: “The hunt is on for partners who would like to make some money available so that the scheme can become an annual event and more organisations be helped.

“If you think you can assist, or indeed know anybody else who might, please drop us a line at info@haworthrotary.co.uk.”