OLD Trafford charity St John’s Centre is the lucky winner of a £500 donation after joining a new initiative to match empty community spaces with groups struggling to find places to meet.

The website www.sharesomewhere.org was created by Youth United Foundation, a national charity set up by the Prince of Wales, to get uniformed youth organisations to work together.

St John’s church community centre has joined more than 80 spaces registered on the new website, which includes anyone with an empty community room or a venue not in use all the time – from church halls to conference centres.

To be eligible for the prize draw, spaces simply had to create a free listing on the website before the end of June.

Michael Carpenter, of Share Somewhere, said: “We are delighted to be able to give extra support to make a local space even better by donating £500 and by being part of Share Somewhere, St John’s Centre is already taking advantage of the opportunity to make better use of their space and raise even more money.”

A spokesman for St John's said: “Wow, a big thank you to Share Somewhere - we are very excited to win this money. It doesn’t sound a lot but will make a big difference to us.

"We can now afford a cooker hood that allows us to make more use of our kitchen. As a small charity it is often difficult to get funding to improve what we do.

"St John’s Centre is a small independent charity that aims to enrich the lives of people in Old Trafford. We have lots of courses and activities for adults in the community during the day and recently gained funding from Cheshire Community Foundation called 'New Beginnings' aimed at welcoming asylum seekers and refugees into their new community."

The idea for Share Somewhere came from a recognition that many venues where young people’s organisations, such as scout, girlguiding and cadet groups, meet are empty a lot of the time and so there was an opportunity to share those spaces and perhaps create revenue for maintenance of those venues and for other projects. It could also benefit other groups and organisations looking for spaces to meet in.

The website has been made possible by a National Youth Social Action Fund grant, funded by Pears Foundation and the Cabinet Office. If successful, listings could be extended across the UK.