CUMBRIA Wildlife Trust is celebrating the news that it has been awarded a grant of more than £12,000 from the Local Heritage Initiative to develop a living churchyard' at St Lawrence's Church, Crosby Ravensworth.

The trust's work will dovetail with efforts by the church council and community of Crosby Ravensworth to establish the churchyard as an example of best practice for the national Living Churchyard Project.

The aims of this national scheme are to enhance the wildlife habitat of burial grounds through conservation management and to promote educational and community-based action for the environment. The grant will fund items such as bat and bird boxes, feeders and shrub planting. Information gathered through the project will be captured in the form of a mobile display, fliers and a leaflet for future generations and visitors to appreciate.

Susannah England, the Countryside Agency's Local Heritage Initiative Adviser for the North West, said: "The Local Heritage Initiative recognises that the long term future of our local heritage lies in the hands of those who value it at local level. The local community, including the pupils of the school, will have special days to find out more about their churchyard. Wildlife such as bats and wildflowers will be identified, and the social and built heritage of the churchyard will be discovered and recorded."

Rachel Osborn, of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said: "Crosby Ravensworth churchyard has been chosen for this project because of its potential habitat value and because the church council has taken action in the past to encourage wildlife and its keenness to do more.

"Thanks to the Local Heritage Initiative grant we will be able to involve the Crosby Ravensworth community in learning about and discovering the unique natural heritage on their doorstep. We will be demonstrating how they can do even more for wildlife and use their example to encourage others to do the same."

The Countryside Agency initiative is designed to provide cost-effective grants to encourage communities to take practical action to care for their local heritage. The three main components to the Local Heritage Initiative are for communities to assess their local heritage, carry out community-led action, and gain support for local organisations to ensure the sustainability of heritage action. The Local Heritage Initiative is run by the Countryside Agency with funding of £8 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £1 million from the Nationwide Building Society. While LHI is unable to fund one-off repairs or restorations to individual heritage features, these costs may become eligible where they form part of a broader scheme.

Local people can find out more about the Local Heritage Initiative by calling the LHI Information Line on: 0870 9000401 for details and an application form. Full details of the grant scheme and application details, together with advice from successful projects, are available on the LHI website at www.lhi.org.uk