A GROUP restoring damaged moorland has received a £4,000 grant from the gas pipeline operator Transco.

The Todmorden Moor Restoration Trust was one of 34 national winners in the Transco Grassroots environmental sponsorship scheme for 1997.

Carol Kolazinski, safety and environment officer with Transco's Yorkshire district, said: "Transco Grassroots each year awards grants totalling around £100,000 to local environmental projects in England, Scotland and Wales.

"The Todmorden Moor Restoration Trust's work revitalising moorland damaged by vehicles, restoring stone gateways and building interpretation boards is exactly the type of project Transco Grassroots was created to support."

The Todmorden Moor Restoration Trust was set up by volunteers several years ago and attained charitable status in 1992.

This particular project is an area of land which marks the natural border between Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Trust Secretary Sally Pennie said: "We have members from both Todmorden and Bacup.

"Our work has been an attempt to rethink the site in a bid to deter the people who had started to use it as a dumping ground.

"This award recognises that the moors are important and need protection."

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