COMMUNITY organisations in the Post area are set to benefit from the new round of voting for Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme.

The scheme, launched in 2015, helps community organisations all over the country carry out a project or development through the sale of Tesco’s plastic bags.

Three community organisations, groups or projects in each local area, changing every other month, are able to receive funding when customers vote for them in Tesco stores. The group that receives the most votes in its area will receive a grant of up to £4,000, with second place receiving up to £2,000 and third place receiving up to £1,000 towards their project.

Customers are handed a token after paying for their shopping, which they can use to drop into the box of the organisation or project they would like to receive the funding.

In the newest round of voting, four organisations from the Post area are set to benefit from the scheme.

These include Lifton Community Primary School, St Stephens Pre-School and Launceston Carnival, all based in the Launceston area and can be voted for in Tesco Launceston, whilst St Teath Play Equipment Association can be voted for in Padstow’s Tesco store.

Lifton school is hoping to transform an unusable area of the school grounds into a safe outdoor learning space for the children to observe natural habitats and lifecycles, without needing to leave school grounds.

St Stephens Pre-School will use funding to enhance the outdoor learning environment, meaning pupils will be able to learn outdoors the whole year round, whatever the weather.

Meanwhile Launceston Carnival is hoping to enhance the carnival experience for future events, and St Teath Play Equipment is looking for funding to assist the local school in providing outdoor learning and play equipment for the second phase of their outdoor area.

The new chair of the Friends of Lifton School, Sarah Hallett, was the person responsible for making the successful application to the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.

Melanie Cripps, headteacher of Lifton school, said: “We are hoping to raise money through the scheme for our Forest School Pond Project, which will enable us to clear and refurbish the pond in the forest school area and construct a gated decking area, which will be used for pond dipping and other activities. This will greatly enhance the provision for the children and I know Mrs Honey, our outdoor learning leader, is over the moon about this news.”

Sarah Hallett, chair of the Friends of Lifton School, was feeling extremely positive about the school’s feature in the Tesco store. She said: “I work for South West Lakes Trust so outdoor education and conservation is really close to my heart. We had hoped the pond would be an easy fix that the PTA would contribute to, but the job was much bigger than we realised. I didn’t want to leave it there, so promised Mel I would do what I could to get some funding.

“Some colleagues pointed me in the direction of Bags of Help, and our conservation manager helped us with the potential design and I compiled the application. To find out that we are going to get some help was fantastic. Hopefully we will win, but we are up against some tough competition!”

Launceston Carnival has also been chosen as one of the latest beneficiaries in the final round of the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.

Dave Gordon, chairman of Launceston Carnival, said: “Naturally we are very grateful to Tesco for including Launceston Carnival in the in store public voting stage, and of course delighted that carnival will go to the public vote in November and December at the Launceston store.

“In some ways, this has probably come at the most appropriate time for us in that with carnival is so fresh in people’s minds, having taken place only last weekend, I hope that those people that enjoyed this year’s parade, will ask for a voting counter at Tesco Launceston and vote for Launceston Carnival, a true community event.”

He added: “Whatever the final result of the in store voting stage, this additional funding will enable us to continue to improve our event and find some of the changes we would like to incorporate for next year’s carnival.”

Lisa Curnow, from St Teath Play Equipment Association, explained the background to their funding application.

The association firstly wanted funding to provide an outdoor learning facility and play equipment for the second phase of the local primary school’s outdoor area.

This project is set to benefit 117 pupils, along with their younger siblings not yet in education. The outdoor space would be used three times daily.

From consultation with parents via word of mouth, the school knew that parents wanted to see their children in an outdoor environment frequently and felt that the outdoor area required provision to encourage healthy play and outdoor learning.

The school has also been holding car boot sales and other fundraisers throughout the year, but it will take some time to replace their equipment, which is condemned.

The funding would purchase two play benches, two bug magnifiers for the wild tribe area and some roll over bars, which are great for all ages.

Lisa said: “Being able to have a creative and fun outdoor area will stimulate a child’s imagination, increase physical activity and encourage active lifestyles, build confidence and encourage opportunities to develop their physical and environmental education. We believe that our school and community deserve this help.

“We were able to help the school, following the very successful project at the playing field after the equipment had been condemned, and for which we received help from Bags of Help. Therefore we have now widened our help to the local school outside area, which is why we applied again.”