Wordsworth group raises £8000 to help isolated Cumbrians

The team at the Wordsworth Trust, based in Grasmere, took part in the Big Give’s Art for Impact.

All donations to the trust in the fundraising campaign, which took place between March 19 and 26, will help to bring positive change to people’s lives through the power of poetry and literature.

Michael McGregor, Director of the Wordsworth Trust, said: “We would like to thank everyone who has supported us to continue the work in the communities we all feel so passionately about.

"Money raised will help the Wordsworth Trust do what we do best – bring positive change to people’s lives.”

Donations to Wordsworth Trust were generously matched by Big Give’s Champions and a private donor during the campaign to double the difference in supporting the museum's work across Cumbria.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a revered poet in the age of Romanticism, the revolutionary period whose ideas and values - democracy, individual rights, our relationship with nature and the power of the human mind - now define the modern world.

The Wordsworth Trust has been providing a living memorial to William Wordsworth at Dove Cottage since 1891.

It brings Wordsworth’s poetry into the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds, fulfilling Wordsworth’s own wish, that his poetry would ‘live and do good’.

The money raised will help back a year's worth of opportunities for people disadvantaged by illness or circumstances to discover Wordsworth's 'life-affirming' poetry.

Such efforts include the museum's 'Grand Day Out', which was done in conjunction with Age UK Cumbria, to give older people in the area the chance to visit their displays.

Mary Cardwell, who was one of the people to benefit from this event, said: "It's absolutely amazing and, through him [Wordsworth], that's why I write poetry.

"We really enjoy being together and just being out - to come to these actual places as a group and to be treated so very well, it's amazing."