A new charity fund being launched by the Leicester Mercury to benefit communities has already attracted more than £15,000 in donations.

The Mercury Action Trust will help groups and individuals working within their communities across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The aim is to offer small, one-off grants of up to £500 in any one financial year to voluntary groups providing services and activities for the benefit of their communities.

Mercury editor Nick Carter said: “A number of public-spirited local firms have already pledged their help and we will be approaching others in the near future.”

Among the groups that could benefit are playgroups for under-fives, youth groups, people with physical disabilities and/or sensory impairment and self-help groups dealing with social and health issues.

They will be invited to apply for funding through the Mercury’s Community Action, which has already helped hundreds of community groups since it began almost five years ago.

Nicola Ward, Community Action co-ordinator, said: “Our experience working with community projects has shown that for many groups it can be difficult to find small amounts of funding and that is why we have set up the Mercury Action Trust.

“The fund has been designed to try to address this and hopefully will enable groups to develop.”

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