THORNBURY’S take on Dragons’ Den will be offering more than £15,000 to good causes in the town this year.

The money comes from a year of fundraising efforts by the Thornbury Round Table, which included events like the fireworks display on the Mundy Playing Fields and the Santa’s Sleigh tour around the town.

Similar to the popular BBC TV show, a panel of ‘dragons’ from the Round Table will invite representatives from good causes to put forward their case for a share of the cash, in a public event at The Swan pub on March 8. 

“It has been a good fundraising year for us,” said the group’s vice chairman Brett Chandra. “Once we had the numbers in and realised it was quite a bit more than we would normally raise, we thought it would be good to do something a bit different.

“The Dragons’ Den concept struck us as a nice way to redistribute funds to the good causes in the area and help raise their profile.

“Normally we give out funds to groups who ask us directly, but this also helps to raise our charitable profile to the wider area so that more people will know we are available.”

As well as application forms, the Round Table has asked groups that want to take part to submit a short video explaining who they are, what they do and what they would spend the money on. Applications close on January 18.

“We want as many people to apply as possible,” said Mr Chandra. “While it does come down to the Dragons’ decision, we will consider any good cause that wants to apply – we have a lot of money to give away, and we want to make sure it all finds a good home.”

More than £5,000 was raised at 2016’s Santa’s Sleigh, with money still to be counted from collections made in pubs on December 23.

Mr Chandra added: “We want to thank everyone for continuing to support our events and for the huge amount of generosity people show in donating – including the many other organisations who support us every year. Without that good spirit, we wouldn’t be able to continue doing what we do.”

To apply for the Dragons’ Den event, email thornburyrt647@gmail.com or visit the group’s Facebook page.