National Lottery Open Week is set to offer free and discounted places for visitors across the Harrogate district this weekend.

This year’s Open Week event takes place March 9-17 and will include RHS Harlow Carr, Fountains Abbey and Nidderdale Museum.

Venues funded by National Lottery will offer discounted entry for visitors who can use their National Lottery ticket or scratch card as entry. To redeem this offer people must be able to produce proof of purchase.

Offers are available locally at:

RHS Garden Harlow Carr

Visitors can enjoy two tickets for the price of one this weekend at Harrogate’s RHS Garden, near Beckwithshaw.  The deal runs from March 11-17 and visitors can explore the gardens 2,000 plant varieties.

The Royal Horticultural Society received £4 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards a six-year gardening project that includes developing the world’s first centre of horticultural excellence.

The Main Borders at RHS garden Harlow Carr.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden 

The offer is available March 9-17 for visitors to explore the monastery and estate grounds near Ripon free of charge. The National Lottery has supported Fountains Abbey in vital conservation work.

Fountains Abbey

Nidderdale Museum 

The local and social history museum in Pateley Bridge is offering free entry on March 16. Tickets usually entry costs £5 with free accompanying children.

Nidderdale Museum has benefited from a grant from the National Lottery fund to start work to make the museum sustainable.

Nidderdale Museum

There are also nearby offers with Beningborough Hall and Goddards in York offering the same deal as Fountains Abbey plus Leeds Library offering free tours.

For the Harrogate district offers booking in advance is not required. Proof of purchase of a National Lottery game can be either a hard copy ticket or digital.

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Seven voluntary organisations in the Harrogate district have received National Lottery cash injections totalling nearly £450,000.

They are among 300 organisations in Yorkshire and Humberside to receive a share of more than £13 million awarded by the National Lottery Community Fund.

Dementia Forward, based in Burton Leonard, was awarded almost £240,000, which was the largest donation made to a North Yorkshire charity.

The grant will provide three-year funding for its time out together group for people aged 35 to 65 with young onset dementia.

The group enables younger people with this rare form of dementia, who receive little support, to socialise and go on day trips.

The time out together members at Dementia Forward.

Debby Lennox, community liaison manager at Dementia Forward, said:

“The real testament to the success of this project and the need for it to continue is the difference that it is making to the people we support and their families – it truly is life changing.”

The other local groups rewarded were:

Ripon Community Link — £170,000

Ripon Community Link supports adults and young people with learning disabilities.

The charity offers members the chance to work in a café or shop based at Ripon Walled Gardens, and aims to boost self-confidence and employability skills.

The funding will be used to employ more staff to support members working and encourage them to serve customers.

Emerging Voices — £5,780

Emerging Voices is a Harrogate-based project which uses music to improve mental health.

Members can receive mentoring from musicians and teachers. They are offered support with songwriting, singing and playing instruments.

It will use the donation to restart a wellbeing choir and mentoring services.

It hopes the choir will bring people together and reduce isolation.

St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Harrogate — £10,000

 St Joseph’s Catholic Church, on Skipton Road, will use its award to contribute towards the replacement of a boiler in the church hall.

The hall is used by groups to host community events and private functions.

Starbeck Community Library — £6,000

 Starbeck Community Library, located on the High Street, will use the donation to improve the children’s reading area.

It hopes a new and improved reading area will encourage families to stay at the library for longer and, in turn, improve children’s development.

Autism Angels — £10,000

 Summerbridge-based charity Autism Angels offers horse riding sessions to children with autism.

It also offers support to parents, siblings and carers.

The grant will be used to fund additional support sessions for parents and carers. It hopes to start a father’s support group and a parenting programme.

The charity also hopes the funding will reduce isolation and increase awareness and knowledge.

The Robinson Library — £7,500

The Robinson Library in Timble is used as a village hall to house community events, as well as health and wellbeing activities.

The money will be used to refurbish the kitchen.

Joe Dobson, head of funding for Yorkshire and Humberside at the National Lottery Community Fund, said:

“We’re delighted that local groups are using our funding to strengthen communities and improve lives in our region.

“Their passion, creativity and commitment are making a real difference to local people’s lives, and this deserves recognition.”

The fund aims to distribute at least £4 billion by 2030 to support community activities, inclusivity and improve the environment.

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A conservation trust which runs Nosterfield Nature Reserve has been awarded £250,000 to help restore threatened natural habitats.

The 150-acre nature reserve is situated between the Rivers Ure and Swale at West Tanfield, between Ripon and Masham.

It is regarded as North Yorkshire’s premier wetland grassland. However, rare remnant areas of fen and magnesian limestone are in urgent need of attention.

The National Lottery’s Heritage Fund grant will enable Lower Ure Conservation Trust to tackle this by employing three staff and embarking on a project to restore natural habitats at Nosterfield,

The scheme will also improve other areas along the Ure.

Nosterfield is regarded as North Yorkshire’s premier wetland grassland.

Simon Warwick, director of the trust, said it was the biggest grant it had ever received. He added:

“Our animals, plants and invertebrate life have been poorly served by us humans in recent years.  We are one of the most nature-depleted countries in Europe.

“In our small way, let’s hope this is the start of a fightback in this part of North Yorkshire. We are extremely grateful to the National Lottery players to have received this support.”

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The habitat restoration work will focus on wetland and magnesian limestone, including working alongside English Heritage on the neighbouring neolithic monument, Thornborough Henges.

There will be opportunities for local people to get involved through community planting days, which will be held in autumn 2024 and 2025. 

Work at Nosterfield will include includes a range of priority habitats which will be restored, conserved and re-created as part of the project.

Lapwing are among the species that will benefit. Pic: Whitfield Benson

Species such as Bittern, Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Dingy Skipper and Tubular Water-dropwort will benefit from these habitat improvements.

The project, which starts on Monday (July 10) and will last for two-and-a-half years, also aims to connect people with nature by creating a community engagement officer role.

Emma Higgs, project officer at Nosterfield, said:

“One of the most exciting things about the project for me is getting more people involved in securing a future for our wildlife.

“We have some great volunteers  but with more work to be done now  we need more and better trained ones.

“We will be able to employ three new people and one of those roles will be to encourage school children to become involved.”

Simon Warwick and Emma Higgs. Pic: Frank Dwyer

Harrogate and Knaresborough Toy Library says classes for new parents has become more important following lockdown and with new funding it can offer more.

The charity received £1,307 from The National Lottery Community Fund and has had their venue hire prices covered by Chain Lane Community Hub until December.

The funding has helped the charity hold a second new parent class.

Play session worker, Rachael Bolton, says lockdown has isolated some new parents leaving them with out the usual opportunities to socialise and demand for spaces has increased.   The library’s capacity is currently limited due to restrictions.

Play session worker, Rachael Bolton said:

“New parents can often feel alone at the beginning because it is all new and meeting new parents normalises it all because you have common experiences. But many have missed out on this over lockdown.

“This can be extremely isolating and we are really happy to be able to give this opportunity to the local community.”

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The baby and new parent classes on a Monday and Wednesday are held at Chain Lane Community Hub in Knaresborough.

An outdoor play session is also held for toddlers and older children at Knaresborough House on Tuesdays.

The charity also offers a toy library where parents can pick toys via the online library to take home for two weeks before returning them.

The shelves are stacked high with doll houses, dinosaurs and board games

Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge has been awarded £54,800 as part of a project to sustain the heritage of the area.

The volunteer-run museum has a collection of over 32,000 items, including costumes, artefacts and photographs.

The funding, secured from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will help to fund a 15-month project called Sustaining Nidderdale’s Heritage.

The project aims to ensure the museum can continue to preserve and display local heritage.

It will enable the facility to expand its volunteers and set up recruitment and training programmes.

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A part-time project manager will be appointed to oversee the scheme, which will start in May. There will also be an opportunity for a young person to be taken on as part of a trainee placement.

The museum, which receives more than 6,000 visitors a year, also hopes the grant will help it to put measures in place to secure Arts Council England accreditation, which would enable it to apply for future funding.

Sue Welch, chairman of the Nidderdale Museum, said: 

“We’re delighted to receive this funding, which will mean we can safeguard the future of Nidderdale’s heritage, and give more people the opportunity to learn about it.  

“We’re grateful to all those who, by buying lottery tickets, have made this funding possible.”

The museum expects to re-open on May 21, and will then be open from 1.30 – 4.30pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday throughout May and June.  

Ripon Museum Trust has received £40,100 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to safeguard its heritage buildings and provide much-needed support for essential costs during the coronavirus crisis.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown began, Ripon Museum Trust has been without the visitors, volunteers and staff essential to the upkeep of the three museums – The Workhouse Museum & Garden, The Courthouse Museum and the Prison & Police Museum.

Helen Thornton, director of Ripon Museum Trust said:

“Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we are in a much stronger position to emerge the other side of the pandemic with the strength to welcome visitors again and to reach out to our audiences. We’re grateful that The National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting us at this crucial time – it’s a lifeline to us and others who are passionate about sustaining heritage for the benefit of all.”

The emergency funding has come from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which has made £50 million available to assist those most in need across the heritage sector.

The UK-wide fund will address both immediate emergency actions and help organisations to start thinking about recovery.

Ros Kerslake, chief executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:

“Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, supporting economic regeneration and benefiting our personal wellbeing. All of these things are going to be even more important as we emerge from this current crisis.”

She added:

“Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are pleased to be able to lend our support to organisations such as Ripon Museum Trust during this uncertain time.”

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Like Ripon Museum Trust, other charities and organisations across the UK that have been affected by the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus outbreak are being given access to a comprehensive package of support of up to £600 million of repurposed money from The National Lottery. This money is supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and spans the arts, community, charity, heritage, education, environment and sports sectors.

Through National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for good causes, including heritage of local and national importance.

Museum buildings across the Harrogate district remain closed, but at the weekend Ripon Workhouse Museum launched the ‘Inside Out Museum Trail’ which will see its Front Garden, Master’s Garden and Victorian Kitchen Garden open to the public on selected days in June and July. Places on the trail are limited to ensure social distancing is maintained and booking is via the Museum Trust’s website.