Local charity Moor Time is celebrating after being awarded £257,000 in National Lottery funding to support its work providing short breaks for children with additional needs.
The group, based in Ilkley, will use the money to run holiday clubs, Saturday clubs and stay and plays that give disabled young people somewhere fun and exciting to go, and their family carers some respite time.
Moor Time was formerly LS29 Time, part of the LS29 Special Needs Support Group. It has been running as an independent charity since 2022, after breaking away amicably from its sister charity for administrative reasons. It has a team of experienced SEND staff and volunteers who provide support to the young people who come.
Moor Time was founded by a group of local parents who felt that there was a lack of holiday provision locally for families who had children with complex needs.
The charity now runs a holiday club five days a week in the major school holidays in Ilkley, and a fortnightly termtime Saturday club in Keighley, alongside services for 5s and under and a supported volunteering scheme for 18 to 25 year olds.
The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, helps to secure the future of the these services for the next three years, that local young people with additional needs and their families have come to rely on.
Jane Elliott, chair of Moor Time says: “We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to continue to offer life-enhancing short break activities for children with disabilities. This is important because it means that the young people will have the opportunity to mix with peers and try new activities and experiences, rather than just being cared for at home.”
Jane Connop, Moor Time’s project manager added: “Many of the young people who come to us are at risk of isolation in the holidays because their needs are complex, or they attend special schools some distance away from home so they don’t have a local friendship group. Moor Time helps to bring them together and gives them somewhere safe and accessible to go, while giving families some much needed respite time. We’re all so grateful to the Lottery for their support.”
The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.
To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk