A charity dedicated to helping lonely, isolated and elderly people across Huddersfield which was saved from shutting last year will now close for good due to a funding crisis.

Aspire Creating Communities began in 2015 at St John’s Church in Birkby with groups aged over 55 meeting to foster a sense of community and belonging while doing fun activities. It’s expanded ever since to set up more weekly groups in Crosland Moor, Newsome, Dalton, Almondbury and Ashbrow.

Aspire has been run by a team of five staff helped by 30 volunteers with more than 200 people attending its meetings in their own areas. Many people have relied on the charity as their only hope of getting out once a week and Aspire hopes to be able to involve them in other groups now its closing.

A story on Huddersfield Hub last November revealed it had run out of funding and needed £20,000 quickly or would have to close on New Year’s Eve.

It managed to bring in a total of almost £40,000 from three different funding sources along with fundraising and other donations which secured its future well into this year, but now the money has run out and the charity is finding it impossible to source any more.

The final group sessions and activities are taking place this week and then Aspire will cease to operate. A final event is being planned for Saturday, November 30, to celebrate all the great work Aspire has done in local communities.

 

 

Interim Aspire chief executive Angela Galvin has broken the bad news to the groups that the charity must end, saying: “Those of you who have followed Aspire’s journey will know that finding the resources to enable our activities has been an increasing struggle, leading to uncertainty at times.

“After almost 10 years of supporting our members in Huddersfield and Kirklees, the trustees have decided that Aspire must close.

“In the past few years we have been running the charity on just one third of the money we had in 2021. Our efforts to bridge that gap have been relentless but the competition for grants is fierce and for every successful application we have made, literally hundreds have been turned down.

“The decision to wind down Aspire’s activities has not been an easy one, but over recent times it’s become increasingly inevitable. We are now communicating with other organisations and service providers to make sure our members have opportunities to continue to build confidence, creativity and connection in other settings.

“Over the years, hundreds of people have taken part in and shaped Aspire’s activities. We believe Aspire has built a strong platform for passing the baton to other groups and agencies to continue this important work.

“As an Aspire team we acknowledge that this will come as a shock and is deeply sad news to us all. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for allowing us to walk with you on your own individual journeys and our journey together.”

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.