TV battle for charities seeking cash windfall

COMMUNITY groups are fighting it out to win a share of £250,000.

Five groups will win awards of up to £50,000 each for their community projects in The People's Millions contest.

In total, eight schemes will battle it out for a chunk of the cash from the Big Lottery Fund in a TV showcase on ITV Central news.

Two projects will go head-to-head each night, giving the public the chance to vote on where the good cause cash goes.

On Monday, November 23, Newcastle Borough Council's Queen Elizabeth Park play area project, to improve a run-down site, will be battling it out against Wednesbury 2000's project to renovate a hall to be used as a theatre space.

On Tuesday, November 24, the Community Learning Group's Young Mums Creative and Healthy Communities project in Hanley and Meir, to support and train young parents, will face competition from a community centre improvement scheme in Quinton and Harborne, near Birmingham.

Two days later, Staffordshire Search and Rescue Team will try and win cash for its team control van project, to purchase a replacement control vehicle to increase its capacity for search and rescue assignments, against an urban woodland project in Telford.

Telephone voting lines will open at 9am on the day the projects are due to appear on the news. Winners will be announced the next day.