THREE community groups have received a cash windfall thanks to the Tesco Bags of Help initiative at the Altrincham store.

Our Altrincham, Rixton with Glazebrook Pre-School near Partington, and St Wilfrid's C of E Primary School, Northenden, are the latest groups to bag funding - earning grants of £1,000, £5,000 and £2,000 respectively.

Our Altrincham is a voluntary community organisation, focussing efforts on environmental improvements in the town.

Sarah Walmsley, director at Our Altrincham, said: “The Tesco Bags of Help grant will be put towards the cost of designing, constructing and planting a carpet bedding feature reading ‘Welcome to Altrincham’ on our Green Gateway site at one of the main entrances to the town.

“We’re so pleased to have won funding from Tesco because it is helping us give visitors to our town a beautiful, friendly welcome.”

Rixton with Glazebrook Pre-School will be using the grant to renovate the school’s outdoor playspace. Gemma Gorvett, Deputy Manager at Rixton with Glazebrook Pre-School, said:

“We’re over the moon with winning the top grant in the Bags of Help scheme, and we’ll be putting it to good use by developing our facilities for all of our pre-school and main school pupils, along with children from local link clubs.

“The school is looking to introduce brand new soft flooring, climbing walls, an outdoor shelter and a large sandpit for all of the children to enjoy, so we’re really grateful that Tesco and those members of the public who voted for us have given us this opportunity!”

Helena Miller, Head of St Wilfrid’s C of E Primary School, added:

“We’re very excited to be able to kick-start the development of our outdoor learning space thanks to the Bags of Help grant from Tesco, which will help us to invest in vital equipment and materials for the project.

“The school grounds will be transformed, with brand new raised beds and areas for planting fruit and vegetables so we can teach our children how and where their food comes from, and we’ll hope to introduce heg hog houses as well.”

James Piercy, Store Manager at Tesco Extra Altrincham, said:

“It’s fantastic to see the money raised from the Tesco 5p bag levy charge given to local community groups and organisations, putting the funding back in to our area.

“The Bags of Help scheme means that people in the area can see the benefits in the environment around them, which is really exciting for us.”

Tesco has teamed up with Groundwork to run the funding scheme, which sees pots of cash raised from the 5p bag levy being awarded to outdoor community projects.

Future groups are able to apply for funding of £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000, with three shortlisted every two months to receive the cash awards.

Shoppers are invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant of £4,000, using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

Tesco’s Bags of Help project has already delivered over £27 million to more than 3500 local community projects up and down the UK. Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups every two months.

The Bags of Help scheme is permanently open for applications and anyone can nominate a project at any time – whether it’s Tesco customers, colleagues or the community groups themselves. Just ask in store for more information or visit the Bags of Help website or visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp/ for more information on entry criteria.