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App-y Easter! Estate agent helps Yorkshire ballet talent

THE curtain has gone up on a new charity partnership between business and the arts, designed to support the home-grown Yorkshire talent of youngsters involved in one of the UK’s most renowned ballet companies.

Linley & Simpson, the independent Ilkley estate agency with sister branches in Saltaire and Horsforth, has danced to the aid of the Academy of Northern Ballet by funding a new app, launched by its Parents’ Association.

The initiative will enable the Academy and its Parents’ Association to reach out in a novel way to all its students and their families directly, sharing news about upcoming events, opportunities for support, and ongoing activities.

It will benefit the 800 students already registered - from tiny tots upwards - with over 60 of these training intensively several times a week to pursue careers as professional dancers.

The app also breaks new ground by giving easy access to over 2,000 contacts based across North and West Yorkshire, including Bradford, Skipton, Ilkley and further afield.

Over and above this, Linley & Simpson is backing the charity by inviting it to become the latest partner of its Give Back community scheme that supports a raft of local charities and good causes.

The initiative means that for every home sold or let through Linley & Simpson as a result of the new link-up, the agency will donate £100 to the Academy to support its future projects.

Karen Willis, Chair of the Academy of Northern Ballet Parents’ Association, said: “We are delighted to announce Linley & Simpson as one of the Academy of Northern Ballet’s sponsors.

“As a Parents’ Association, we are constantly looking for new ways to support all students across the Academy by raising funds to help students facing challenging circumstances by assisting with bursaries for tuition, equipment and uniform, as well as providing fun events throughout the year for students and their families to join in with.

“By sponsoring the Parents’ Association’s new app, Linley & Simpson has given us the opportunity to have a new platform of communication to keep all the Academy’s students and their families up to speed with all the support that is on offer.”

Emily Wilkinson, who coordinates Linley & Simpson’s community and charity engagement projects, said: “Northern Ballet has been at the heart of our community for approaching 50 years and we are delighted to support the way it nurtures home-grown Yorkshire talent.

“The app will add an extra dimension to the way it connects with its students and families and we are delighted to help it take forward this long-awaited step.”

The Academy of Northern Ballet is based in state-of-the art facilities based in Leeds, and provides world-class, non-residential dance training to people of all ages and abilities, whether their dream is to pursue a career as a professional dancer or they simply wish to dance for fun.

ENDS

Feeling app-y … Lauren Sayles and Stuart Blackburn of Linley & Simpson celebrate the launch of the new link-up with students from the Academy of Northern Ballet..

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by richard chew .