A VOLUNTEERING hub in Thornbury has bagged an amazing £2,000 from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.

Thornbury Volunteer Centre, which is based in Thornbury Town Hall are the volunteer development agency for Thornbury and district.

In their work, they aim to promote, support and develop volunteering, offer training and advice, and also provide a service which matches volunteers with organisations that need voluntary help.

Delighted with the result, Kim Webb, development co-ordinator for Thornbury Volunteer Centre, said: “This is such good news for us and the community. As a very small local charity dedicated to promoting the benefits of volunteering to a wider audience we are always looking for ways to raise awareness in the local community and this grant will help us enormously”.

The Bags of Help community grand scheme is run in partnership with environmental charity Groundwork, and sees grants raised from the sale of carrier bags awarded to thousands of community projects every year.

Since launching in 2015, it’s provided more than £43million to over 10,000 local community projects.

Work will now begin on bringing the project to life.

To recognise the 30 year anniversary of Thornbury Volunteer Centre this year, the group will be hosting a series of four events aimed at encouraging new people to get involved, whilst acknowledging the valuable contribution made to the community by their existing volunteers.

Among the events to be hosted by the group throughout the year include a “building confidence” workshop to support potential new volunteers, a networking event for volunteers-involving organisations and volunteers, and an awards ceremony showcasing the work of the community’s unsung heroes.

The volunteer centre will also host a series of taster sessions at voluntary and community organisations, which were designed to give potential volunteers a flavour of the type of opportunities available in the area.

Alec Brown, Tesco’s head of community, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers. It’s such a special scheme because it’s local people who decide how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”

Voting ran in stores throughout November and December with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the checkout.

Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups each time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions are awarded funding.

Groundwork’s national chief executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “Bags of Help continues to enable local communities up and down the UK to improve the local spaces and places that matter to them.

“The diversity of projects that are being funded shows that local communities have a passion to create something great in their area.

“We are pleased to be able to be a part of the journey and provide support and encouragement to help local communities thrive.”