THG is celebrating after winning a grant of £8,000 in a public vote run by Tesco in their Bags of Help initiative.

Bags of Help sees the money raised by customers through Tesco’s 5p bag charge go directly back into the local community. The bag charge is used to fund local projects to create or improve outdoor spaces in communities across the UK.

Tesco works with the environmental improvement charity Groundwork, which specialises in transforming local green spaces, to administer the scheme.

Rhodri Evans, Tesco Local Communications Manager, 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.”

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.”

Emma Molony, THG Project Co-ordinator said, “We are thrilled to have won this award and thank everyone for voting for us. The grant will help us create a mosaic picnic table for everyone to use in our community garden. Local primary schools will now be creating mosaics with the artist Karen Wydler in a programme of workshops.

We will also be developing our ‘Wild Art’ community garden to include more seating and musical sculptures created in workshops with Honiton community groups."