Life continues to be hard for many people in the middle of the second decade of the Twenty First Century.

While the Government might tell us that the economy is improving, salaries in general are still in the doldrums and austerity and cuts continue to play a large part in private industry and the public sector.

Against that background it is truly heartening to witness the many ways in which people in this part of the world are willing to act selflessly when they come across someone in a less fortunate position than themselves.

This week The Westmorland Gazette is proud to announce that its latest campaign has been successful. In just five weeks generous readers have rallied and sent in a flood of cheques for our 'Give Robbie Room' appeal, which aimed to raise £10,000 for Crosthwaite's Robbie Young, who has a string of medical issues.

The total has not only been reached but exceeded, with a stunning £11,792 raised. The cash will be used to give Robbie a bigger and better bedroom, including new flooring and curtains, a wider door to make it easier for his wheelchair to fit through and new seating for his dedicated carers.

It is always good to make a real difference and improve someone's life - and that is what Gazette readers have achieved.

This is not the first time our readers have shown their caring spirit. In recent years they raised more than £36,000 as part of the Driving Hospice Care campaign to buy two 4x4s for a team of nurses from St John Hospice at Lancaster, enabling them to better reach terminally-ill patients.

They also raised £25,000, in conjunction with the Will Clark Fund, to help pay for a specially-adapted rough terrain quad bike for paralysed Grasmere man Will Clark.

And people responded positively to the Gazette's You Could Be Their Someone campaign, which encouraged prospective adopters to attend informal drop-ins in a bid to find permanent homes for children.

All this cements the argument that this is the best place in the country in which to live.