Work begins on bid to secure Utass funding

WORK has begun on securing funding to enable a charity to continue its vital work across upper Teesdale and Weardale.
Officials at Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (Utass) say the group’s work is needed just as much now as it was when officially launched in 2000.
Utass is about to enter the final 12 months of a five-year grant from the Big Lottery Fund, which covers about 60 per cent of the organisation’s running costs.
Project manager Diane Spark said: “It costs about £200,000 a year to run Utass before actually doing anything.
“We are currently working on a continuation Big Lottery application which we hope will be a seamless transition from one grant ending to one starting.”
Utass has received Lottery funding for the past eight years. However, Ms Spark said nothing was being taken for granted.
“We have got one person employed now who is solely engaged in funding. It is a hard world out there in terms of funding. We have got diminishing resources.”
While the Lottery grant covers a major part of Utass’ day-to-day running costs, the charity relies on almost 40 different funders to make up the balance.
Ms Spark explained that the breadth of work undertaken by Utass has expanded since its early days, although the perception is still that it exists purely to help the farming community.
“We have had feedback from people who are not from farming families who think that Utass is not for them,” she said. “We can appreciate why people would think that – just look at the name. But nothing could be further from the truth.”
She said Utass went to great lengths not to “step on the toes” of other organisations and replicate what others were doing, but was there to respond to gaps in what the community might need.
“We are particularly proud that whatever Utass has delivered has always been based on what the community needs, not on perceived needs. It is what people have asked us for – what they have told us they need,” added Ms Spark.
This has resulted in Utass’ involvement in more than 20 different areas of work, everything from providing a base for Citizens Advice and Durham County Carers to hosting social and community events, such as plays by the Highlights Rural Touring Scheme.
The charity provides two minibuses for community use as well as offering internet access, photocopying and laminating services.
The Teesdale Heritage Group and Wear and Tees Farm Watch groups operate under Utass’ umbrella, while pilates groups, a chiropodist, beauty therapist and community groups use the charity’s facilities in Chapel Row, Middleton-in-Teesdale.
This, and much more, is on top of the practical support offered to farmers with filling in complex forms and dealing with other paperwork, along with translating often bewildering briefing notes from government and EU departments into layman’s terms.
“We did not deliver that many services when we launched in 2000, we just did complex paperwork and dealt with agricultural issues in that first year, trying to keep people up to date. It was very small and very focussed,” said Ms Spark.
Nowadays, Utass employs a staff of 13 and relies on the help of a small army of volunteers.
Ms Spark said the volunteer time contributed was the equivalent to £126,536 in 2016, up 12 per cent on the previous year.
“Things have moved on. The biggest issue facing us now is Brexit. It’s a huge question mark.
“We are trying to put forward a plan of work for the next five years without fully knowing what the boundaries are and what Brexit is going to bring.
“We have always prided ourselves on being able to respond to crises and meet the needs of the community. I hope we are able to carry on doing that,” she said.