Charities receive cash boost (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Charities receive cash boost

LOCAL charities were presented with cheques totaling nearly £15,000 by Standard editor Peter Davison last week.

The charities were successful applicants of grants from the Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of the American company Gannett, owner of the Standard's publisher Newsquest.

The successful charities were:

* Cirencester Housing for Young People, whose £4,000 grant will go towards replacing broken televisions and fridges.

* Cirencester Opportunity Group, whose £4,300 grant will be used to refurbish the children's toilet area.

* Noah's Ark Venture at Macaroni Wood, Eastleach whose grant will buy bikes and trikes for the disabled and disadvantaged children who take residential breaks there.

* The Musicspace Trust, whose £2,500 grant will provide music therapy for severely disabled children in the Cirencester area.

Another cheque, of £65, was presented to Rosa Feeney, of the Tom's Friend's Appeal. Standard readers have helped raise over £19,000 since the newspaper asked them to help the appeal last February.

The fund was set up to help Tom Tooley, who was left paralysed following a post-operative stroke.

The Standard chose to donate the money to the charity rather than sending out Christmas cards to contributors and advertisers.