It's nice to see the hanging baskets have now been delivered bringing colour to village centres throughout the parish.  The Council is grateful to Kirklees Rural District Committee for its grant of £1,461 towards the costs of the baskets, and also to Lepton Community Link, who paid for 4 baskets in Lepton Square.

In total the Council ordered 96 baskets, which have been installed in Farnley Tyas, Flockton, Grange Moor, Highburton, Kirkburton, Kirkheaton, Lepton, Shelley, Shepley, Stocksmoor and Thurstonland.  We hope you like them.

The Council has reviewed all of its grant schemes and made considerable changes to the rules.  With the exception of Small Annual Grants and Clock Grants, they have all been merged into one scheme called the General Grant Scheme.

The main change in the rules is that all applicants must have a written constitution which states the name and aims of the organisation.  The Mission Statements which were accepted previously are no longer valid.

All organisations must have a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, who will be elected at an Annual General Meeting.  The rules state that terms of office must not exceed 13 months.  However, since publication of the rules, it has been discovered that the Charity Commission recommends a maximum of 15 months between annual meetings.  The Council is therefore hoping to make this minor amendment to the grants rules before the Grants meeting.  The advice is therefore to disregard the 13 months limit in the rules and to submit your application anyway.

If your organisation does not have a constitution or if it does not meet these rules, you are advised to address the issue before making a grant application.

The deadlines for submitting an application with all supporting documents are: Friday 30 June and Friday 27 October.  To download the new rules and a form, please visit the Grants Schemes tab above.

Rural Action Yorkshire (RAY) is working with Kirklees Council and the Dementia Action Alliance to try to improve facilities for people with dementia and their carers.  There is currently a lack of facilities in the Parish Council area, so it is hoped that this project will improve the situation with the help of groups and organisations in this area.  

Find out how you can help to become more aware of people's needs in everyday situations or to help establish a new group in your village from the DAA website

Or consider becoming a Dementia Reading Companion.  Find out what's involved here