Yorkshire Bank Launches £150,000 Community Award Fund in Town

17/6/09

To mark 150 years of working with communities, Yorkshire Bank is launching a special £150,000 fund to help support charities and community groups. 

The ‘Yorkshire Bank 150th Community Awards’ were launched last night at a special dinner for community partners at Nostell Priory near Wakefield.

The £150,000 fund will be used to make awards to projects in four categories – environment, volunteering, education and regeneration. The winning entry in each category will receive the ‘Colonel Akroyd Community Award’, named after the bank’s founder, plus £10,000. Four runners-up will receive a certificate plus £5,000. In addition to the main category awards, there will be a further 20 awards of £1,000 to projects that are considered ‘highly commendable’. There will also be an extra £10,000 award for the best overall entry.

Full details of the Yorkshire Bank 150th Community Awards, including an application form, can be found at www.ybonline.co.uk/awards (removed) or by writing to YCBF 150th Community Awards, 3rd floor, 20 Merrion Way, Leeds, LS2 8NZ. 

Dean Cutbill, director for Yorkshire Bank, said: “As an organisation founded on community principles, Yorkshire Bank is proud to mark 150 years of continued support with these awards.  And it is only right that the awards take their name from our founder, Col. Akroyd, whose vision of a bank to support local communities we still hold today.  We hope to see plenty of entries from across the regions and wish them all the best of luck in the judging.”

Lucky shortlisted charities and groups will be invited to an awards ceremony in November where the winners will be announced.

These special awards come on top of the existing support Yorkshire Bank provides for community and charity groups through its charitable foundation, the Yorkshire and Clydesdale Bank Foundation.