CREDITON Playscheme, the local organisation that provides days out and activities for children from in and around Crediton with special needs and learning difficulties, was the lucky recipient of a £4,000 funding bonus and all thanks to the Tesco customers at both the Wellparks Superstore and Crediton High Street store.

The Bags of Help scheme run by the retailer offers its customers the chance to vote between three local organisations with the winner gaining funding of £4,000.

Crediton Playscheme were in the voting period of November and December and received enough blue token votes to capture the top prize.

The group recently used that money to fund a weekend residential stay at The Calvert Trust facility in North Devon, a place purpose-built for children with special needs to engage in outdoor activities such as canoeing, abseiling, mountain biking, etc.

In the past Crediton Playscheme has only run this weekend when funds allow, concentrating its efforts on delivering its school holiday programme of events and activities and as Bridget Ashplant explains, this extra income allowed the children to visit the North Devon facility.

“We were fortunate enough to secure some funding via Jacksons at the end of last year, for which we were very very grateful, and combined with the Bags of Help funding we took a group of our children, half of which had never had an experience like this before, indeed a couple of them had never been away from home before.”

Bridget continued: “The weekend was a huge success with smiles, laughter and excitement being the order of the weekend and we were able to provide the children with memories that we hope will last them a life time.”

Bridget finished with a big “thank you” to all that voted for the group last year.

“We appreciated, and were so thankful for, every single blue token that was placed in our receptacle. Every member of our group is a volunteer and every penny we raise is through donations or one of our committee taking time to fill out a grant or funding application so when something like this happens we can only say ‘Thank You’ to everyone that thought of us.”

If you’d like to learn more about The Crediton Playscheme, or to volunteer to help them provide their days out or activities, visit: www.creditonplayscheme.org , or email: [email protected] for more information.