FIVE?LOCAL groups received an early Christmas present in the lead up to the festive season when they became the first recipients of grants distributed by The Abergavenny Chronicle’s Sir Ray Tindle Fund.

Founded earlier this year, the fund uses money raised by staff at the newspaper as well as during last summer’s National Eisteddfod, to offer grants of up to £200 to local groups and good causes.

Under the scheme organisations are invited to submit applications to the fund, which are then published in the Abergavenny Chronicle and opened to a public vote.

“Over the years we have raised quite a bit of money for charity but this we decided that it should be put back into the local community,” said the Chronicle’s general manager Mary Purcell.

“All the staff at the Chronicle wanted to find a way of putting something back into the community and showing the paper’s ongoing commitment to the area it serves and it seemed like a good idea to let our readers decide who should get the grants,” added editor Liz Davies.

“We were delighted to be able to hand out grants amounting to £1,000 in the first round of donations,” she added.

Over the three weeks of the readers’ ballot hundreds of people returned their voting slips to the Chronicle, with Abergavenny?Community Centre, Abergavenny Town Football?Club, Ysbyty Fields Neighbourhood Watch, Llanelly Hill Welfare and Memorial Hall and Abergavenny Walking for Health emerging as the top five.

Representatives of the groups called into the Chronicle office shortly before Christmas to be presented with their grants and all the projected supported will be highlighted over the coming months.