Lytham Hall’s Kitchen Garden Project has bagged a share of a £11.5million carrier bag charge fund

Heritage Trust for the North West is delighted to announce we have bagged £10,000 from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative for Lytham Hall.

The supermarket teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help initiative, which saw grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.

Eight million shoppers voted in stores up and down the country. And it can now be revealed that our Lytham Hall Kitchen Garden Project has been awarded £10,000.

The results have been announced and we will now begin work on bringing our project to life.

Work on Lytham Hall’s kitchen garden project will start in April and take until November. During this time Heritage Trust for the North West will be turning an area near the tea room in to a kitchen garden, with raised beds and composting areas. The aim is to grow salad leaves, herbs and cut flowers for use in the tea room, and inspire people to take an interest in horticulture. The fresh produce will offer a nice addition to the tea room menu.

Simon Thorpe, Project Manager at Lytham Hall, said: “To receive £10,000 from the Tesco Bags of Help fund makes a big difference to a charity like ourselves. This money will transform a highly visible area adjacent to the garden wall, and our volunteers are keen to get started. The project also enables us to put in much-needed bike racks to encourage cyclists. We would like to thank all those customers who voted for us.”

Caroline Silke, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success. We have been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and the feedback has been brilliant. We can’t wait to see the money being put to use bringing these projects to life. Nominations for the next round of the initiative will open in April and we look forward to helping a further round of groups and projects bag their share of the bag charge fund.”

Voting ran in store from 27 February until 6 March – with customers choosing which group they’d like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out in store.

Tesco estimated that around eight million votes were cast in stores across the UK.

Groundwork’s national chief executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “We have been delighted to have been involved in the Bags of Help project. It has been wonderful to follow the projects through the application process to the final announcement. This is money which will go directly back into the communities up and down the country creating places to meet people, be active, play or simply relax. This initiative is really putting something back into the local environment, transforming greenspaces and helping the community at a grass-roots level.”

Nominations and applications for the next round of Bags of Help funding will open on April 18. As well as applying direct, suggestions for projects can also be nominated by people living locally.