A FUNDING group is looking for community initiatives to back in an area of North Yorkshire.

The Stokesley and Villages Community Regeneration Group has supported a number of projects over the last 12 months, including the Great Ayton Boxing Club, the recently-completed River Leven Jubilee Bridge in Stokesley and work being undertaken by the Stokesley Cycleways Group.

But now it wants to find more projects it can help get off the ground in Stokesley and its surrounding villages.

It is inviting people to come along to its next annual meeting, on June 5, to help celebrate some of the projects it has helped and also let them know about what other initiatives could do with some financial support.

The group has received £4,000 from the area’s community partnership and £3,000 from Hambleton District Council’s Investing in Communities fund.

Councillor Bridget Fortune, Chair of the group, said: “Over the last 12 months the Group has awarded a total of £4,000 to a number of community projects across Stokesley and the surrounding villages.

“The AGM is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the efforts of the volunteers without whose help these projects would not have got off the ground – and to tell us what initiatives are on the horizon that we should be getting involved with.”

The meeting will include a presentation by John Moore, chief executive of Superfast North Yorkshire, on the rollout of superfast broadband across Stokesley and the surrounding villages.

He will be speaking on areas scheduled for upgrades and what can be done to help communities which may not have received any significant improvements as a result of the initiative.

It is expected that 90 per cent of the population will have access to higher broadband speeds by the end of 2014.

The public meeting on this, and details of how the group funds projects, will take place at 7.30pm at the Stokesley and District Community Care Association base in Town Close, Stokesley on June 5.