A BOURNEMOUTH charity has benefited from a share of a £1.25m fund following a public vote.

Faithworks Wessex, which provides befriending and practical projects to address poverty in the conurbation, has been awarded £30,000 from NatWest’s Skills and Opportunities Fund/

The Christian charity will use the grant to develop their Money Matters project, which supports people in immediate debt crisis and provides a series of money management training sessions for people including unpaid carers, new college students, ex-offenders, and those escaping food crisis.

Alistair Doxat-Purser, chief executive of Faithworks Wessex, said: “Many locally are facing growing challenges in managing their finances, especially in an area like this where house prices are so high compared to average salaries.

“Having this extra support to develop our Money Matters programme and provide more training in how to make your money go further is invaluable. Thank you to all who voted for our project, and thank you to Natwest/RBS for creating this way of bringing hope to more people in financial despair."

Over 800 organisations from across the UK and Republic of Ireland applied to this year’s fund before a total of 96 were chosen to enter the public vote.

Oliver Watts, chairman of NatWest's South West and Wales regional board, said: “It was a challenging decision because of the standard of entries we received. But the panel felt that all of the organisations would make a massive impact in their local communities.”