A MASSIVE £38,000 in funding has been handed out to good causes by the Malmesbury League of Friends following its annual meeting.

A whole shopping list of medical equipment is being bought for the primary care centre and more money has been provided to help needy families in town.

Robin Clark, chairman of the organisation, which used to be known as the hospital league of friends, told the Standard: “It is probably the most amount of money we have given in one go.”

Dozens of pieces of equipment and medical software are on the list, including an opthalmoscope for examining eyes, coagulant testing kit , a spirometer for testing lung function and a timpanometer for the audiologist.

Medical software, an ECG machine and a Dyson fan have also been included in the £13,000 of equipment destined for the GP practice.

Another £19,000 has been provided for a visual field analyser for the centre’s ophthalmology clinics. Mr Clark said the cost would have been another £7,000 is the old machine was not being traded in.

But as well as medical donations, the league had also agreed to pay out £3,000 towards the start up costs of the new food bank due to open at the United Reformed Church in June.

That comes in the wake of a similar £5,000 grant to local support group Heals, which is due to open a new base in the high street. The organisation provides information, training and help for vulnerable people in the town.

More donations from the league, which has also helped disabled patients with the cost of adapting their homes, are expected later in the year.

Mr Clark said much of the money had come from legacies. Before the old Malmesbury Hospital closed seven years ago the group often received donations as a result of fundraising events.

But the loss of the hospital meant the group was not as high profile and since then its main income had been from legacies.

“We have built up a war chest and that provides income and we get income from our investments,” he told the Standard.