Teesside charity Yatton House is refurbishing its headquarters to be greener with the help of a £3,000 grant from the Newcastle Building Society Community Fund.
The charity, based in Great Ayton, works with local people in North Yorkshire and Middlesbrough living with disabilities, offering them learning and development opportunities so that they can achieve their potential.
Activities range from creative arts and sports to developing the necessary skills for independent living. Service users also manage a community market garden, which is funded by selling the produce locally.
The grant is part of a wider £69,000 refurbishment project that involves upgrading the facilities at Yatton House’s headquarters and improving its environmental performance.
Yatton House
Phase four of the project included the replacement of windows and doors with double glazed units, as well as installing insulated panels and wheelchair accessible paving around the outside.
Chris Reeve, fundraising coordinator at Yatton House, says: “We are proud of our green credentials and committed to doing all we can to minimise the environmental impact of our activities, which is something that our members are playing a key role in helping us to achieve.
“Carrying out this latest work is improving the building’s environmental performance and will enable us to bring down our energy usage and costs while also upgrading the facilities that our members can enjoy.
“Fundraising is always a challenge for a project of this magnitude, so the approach we had from the Stokesley branch of Newcastle Building Society to see how they could help us was extremely welcome and we’re grateful to add them to our list of corporate supporters.”
Download the press release (PDF, 113KB).
Image caption: Members of Yatton House preparing baked goods.
