Friends of Hopwood Park win £12,000 from carrier bag charge fund

The cabin area in Hopwood Park - Friends of Hopwood Park win £12,000 from carrier bag charge

Friends of Hopwood Park has won a £12,000 grant to spend on its project Hopwood Park Tranquility Trail from the Tesco Bags of Help funding initiative.

The supermarket teamed up with Groundwork to launch the second round of its initiative, which sees grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to local outdoor community projects.

The runners up in Rochdale were Petrus Community and St John's RC Primary School who won £10,000 and £8,000 grants respectively.

The results were announced on Tuesday (29 November), and the groups will now use their award to bring their projects to life and transform their community.

Mark Thomas, Tesco Corporate Affairs Manager for the North of England, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success.

“We have been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and it’s been great to give people a say on how the money will be spent in their community.

“We can’t wait to see the money being used to bring these projects to life.”

Voting ran in stores from 31 October to 13 November - with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out in store.

Tesco estimates that around six million votes were cast in stores up and down the UK.

So far, Bags of Help has awarded more than £24m across 2,421 local projects.

From 1 December, customers will be able to vote for local groups all year round, every time they shop – meaning that thousands more projects will benefit from the scheme.

Funding will now be awarded to groups who are seeking to use and develop outdoor spaces in ways that will benefit their local community, and money will be available in smaller amounts, making it more accessible.

Customers will get the chance to vote for three different groups each month. At the end of each month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.

Groundwork’s national Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “It’s just the beginning for Bags of Help and we’re really excited about the future. The scheme will be permanently open for applications and as grants can now be used for not just the development but also the use of local outdoor spaces, we expect even more groups will now have a chance to benefit.

“It’s projects like these that really help to capture the public’s imagination by illustrating what can be achieved when communities are given the support and the encouragement they need to create better places where they live.”

Anyone can nominate a local project and local organisations can apply. To find out more visit:

www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp