by John Harris | Jul 13, 2025 | news
We are delighted to share that our work has led to a £10,000 grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation – as a conribution to core costs. Otley Courthouse is an arts and resource which opened in 2004 – following an 8 year development period transforming a redundant magistrates court into a thriving community arts and culture centre. Since that time, a strong and varied programme of events has been established. They know that the arts and culture matter to people – and that community and connections matter. Otley Courthouse brings these two dimensions of life together. Each week they host many groups and classes including: exercise classes, community choirs, chair-based yoga, Pilates, knitting, Under 5’s groups and a dementia group. The community café is open daily. The Courthouse hosts around 200 events a year from film screenings to theatre, with a wide variety of music, comedy, and an annual Science Festival. They run school holiday activities for children and offer part time work and volunteering for young people. A range of community organisations meet here including Otley Maker Space, Wharfedale Men’s Shed which are both formal tenants. They also host a monthly craft fair, Otley Green Fair, and an Arts Festival. Otley Courthouse provides opportunities for people to make new friends and to feel connected in their community. For local people, this helps create a shared sense of purpose; feeling of being part of the community and shared support. Staff and volunteers have built up strong partnerships over the years with many local and regional organisations.
by John Harris | May 13, 2025 | news
This week we heard that we had succeeded in an application worked on with Collective Encounters Tessa Buddle – for £15,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation. Their work has grown year on year, and they now run participatory theatre programmes that work with adults in areas of the region where there is still little opportunity to participate in the arts (Creative Communities); with women, and particularly the radical contribution women have made to the region (Women In Action); family groups whose voices are seldom heard including cared for young people and their families/ carers, unaccompanied young migrants, ethnically minoritised carers and families, and Older People. They have researched and published a guide to dementia-friendly arts activities). The Centre for Excellence provides training and sector development nationally and internationally, and the Radical Makers programme reached people who would normally be excluded from such opportunities.
by John Harris | May 13, 2025 | news
As consultants with the Lloyds Bank Foundation Enhance programme we ar delighted to be working with the Bradford African Community. We met with Usmani the CEO recently and have taken on supporting them in diversifying their funding. We will work on a pipeline of potential funders in order to help them raise the funds to carry on with their work. The charity supports people from number of refugee camps across East Africa including the Congo Kinshasa, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zambia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Somalia and enables them to ‘become productive members of society’ as Usmani put it. This includes ESOL classes and job readiness programmes and helps people into volunteering roles so that they can gain much needed experience. The charity states that “Through our integration in the British main Communities, we experienced various challenges such as: Language barriers, Isolation, Difficulties to navigating new system, Emotional health difficulties and Limited income.”
by John Harris | Apr 11, 2025 | news
In these tough times for fundraising a success is more than welcome! John has worked with Together Dementia Support for 3 years – helping raise over £1,000,000 over that time – but it has got harder as all fundraisers know. This makes this grant of £65,000 over two years very, very welcome. What is it for? The funding will support a Carer Support Co-ordinator – a full time post at 35 hours per week. They will manage a large caseload of carers, keeping in touch with them all and prioritising who needs a visit. They will run Dementia Cafes, Carers’ Zooms and Carer Training courses alongside other staff and the volunteer Carer’s Champions. This support is for the carers of those who live with dementia – 360 unpaid carers who care for nearly 300 people with dementia. For many of them, support provides a lifeline that helps them avoid carer breakdown.
by John Harris | Apr 11, 2025 | news
John completed an application for 3 year funding for co-ordinating and developing the many volunteers who are at the heart of the Hippodrome Theatre in Todmorden. £23,000 was secured for developing a new volunteer strategy, employing a part-time Volunteer Co-ordinator and paying for training for the volunteers in lighting, sound, heritage/conservation and first aid. This will really support the Hippodrome in its transition to a redeveloped and extended building.
