A THORNBURY bank’s first Local Charity Partner has been announced as Age UK South Gloucestershire.

The partnership between the charity and TSB was unveiled on Monday, March 30 with a £100 donation from the bank to kick-start the link.

Age UK South Gloucestershire was nominated for the partnership for the work it does in the community to support older people.

As part of the partnership TSB is also encouraging its staff to spend a day, when they would normally be working, supporting the charity giving up their time and skills.

Age UK South Gloucestershire was selected from a shortlist of charities nominated by the bank’s customers and Partners.

Mel Armstrong, bank manager at TSB in Thornbury, said: "I’m delighted to announce Age UK South Gloucestershire as our first Local Charity Partner in Thornbury.

“Our focus at TSB is to serve local customers and businesses in order to fuel local economies, and that’s why we’re launching a new approach to how we support charity and community.

"Age UK do some amazing work in the area and it was really important to us to pick a charity partner that gives so much back to the community. We can’t wait to get our fundraising off the ground and work together to make a real impact locally."

Martin Green, CEO Age UK South Gloucestershire, said: “We are delighted to have been selected as the charity partner for the Thornbury branch of TSB for 2015.

“We look forward to working with them, and with their support we will be able to reach more older people in need of our services in South Gloucestershire to ensure they ‘love later life’ as much as possible.

“The money raised will go towards operating our volunteering programme, which provides an invaluable source of support for the delivery of our services.”