A MENTAL health group has won its battle for council funding.
Kirklees Council has awarded the Huddersfield MDF Bi-Polar Organisation funding of £930. This will finance the self-help group for a further year.
Last October the council turned down the Bi-Polar Organisation’s request for funding, despite having previously supported the group.
Following the rejection, organiser Mrs Jackie Jones, of Newsome, contacted many of the 50 members for their support. Several wrote impassioned letters, saying how much the group meant to them.
And this time they were successful.
The money will be used to produce and mail out a monthly newsletter and leaflets.
Mrs Jones, who has contributed £300 of her own money to fill the stop gap, said: “I think it is excellent that we have been awarded the grant.
“I think they have perceived our situation and the money will now cover our running costs for another year.”
She believes that the original rejection was due to the fact that the grant criteria was changed.
Although the group is currently involved with 50 people locally, only about 15 attend each monthly meeting, as others may be suffering from depression and too ill to attend. It is this lower figure on which the grant was calculated in October. The MDF Bi-Polar Organisation’s recent activities include a successful first meeting at Folly Hall Mills and a meal to celebrate their ninth anniversary at Bradley’s Restaurant.
Bipolar disorder – or manic depression – has received national attention recently with high-profile sufferers such as Stephen Fry and Catherine Zeta Jones.
