THIS year’s Ilkley Scare Trail has been declared a great success, in spite of horrendous weather threatening the whole event.

The fifth annual Scare Trail raised over £5,000 for local charities and good causes including LS29 Special Needs Group and Addingham Scout Group.

The Scare Trail’s head of delivery, Paul Jennings told the Gazette: “We’re delighted with the figure we raised over the two days, it was touch and go right up to the day before whether any of the trails would go ahead and we have to say a massive thank you to Bradford Council for their support in getting the event over the line! We had five days of rain in the run up to the weekend and parts of the trail were impassible so the route had to be changed at the last minute.”

The Ilkley Scare Trails, the Family Fun Pumpkin Trail, Spooky Shop Trail and the night time Frightmare Trail and have quickly become a fixture in the Ilkley events diary and have raised over £21,000 since it started in 2015.

“We decided to hold the trail over two days this year as it had been getting more and more popular, and we were amazed at how many people braved the weather on the Saturday at the Pumpkin Trail.,” added Paul. “It was the most successful Frightmare Trail with over 600 brave souls who managed to ‘survive’ the 1.5 kilometre walk in the woods! As well as BMDC, we’d like to say thanks to the local businesses who supported us, the residents of Curly Hill and the wonderful volunteers who help run the event, and of course everyone who came along and helped us raise so much for our chosen charities and good causes!”

Karen Goodman who runs LS29 Special Needs Group said: “Thanks to the Scare Trail the LS29 charity are going to take 30 families who have children with special needs for an overnight trip to Blackpool next October to see the illuminations and enjoy the full Blackpool experience!

“Being part of the Scare Trail has been a win-win for us. It’s a great, fun community event to be part of as marshals and pumpkin creators, and one that enables children with disabilities to have Halloween fun too in Blackpool”

The Scare Trail say they have some big plans for this year.

“The trails have been such a success that we’re working on the event for this year already!” said Paul. “We have some really exciting things planned and can’t wait to share it with everyone soon!”

If you’d like to support the Scare Trail this year email: ilkleyscaretrail@gmail.com