THE Phoenix Festival in Cirencester is one of the lucky three community projects to have been shortlisted to receive a grant from Tesco’s ‘Bags of Help’ scheme.

The supermarket giants have teamed up with Groundwork to hand out cash injections of £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – to worthy causes.

The Phoenix Festival, one of the most popular free summer events in the Cotswolds, offers two days of music, dance and family fun over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

The brainchild of the Ozone Youth Club, it is run entirely by volunteers.

Jennie Hale, Phoenix Festival grants committee member, said: “We are over the moon to have been shortlisted.

“An award like this makes a significant contribution to the Phoenix fundraising pot and is such a great way for the local community to get involved.

“So please do help us bag a massive share of the funds next time you go shopping,” she added.

Shoppers are invited to cast their vote throughout May and June using a token given to them at the check-out each time they shop. Stores taking part in the voting are Tesco Metro (Town), Express (Chesterton) and Extra (Kingsmeadow).

Lindsey Crompton, head of community at Tesco, said: “There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see them come to life in hundreds of communities.”

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s national chief executive, said: “We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding and we’re looking forward to learning the results and supporting each group to bring their project to life.”

The Phoenix Festival is now in its fifth year.

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