Pebbles Playgroup is delighted to announce it has bagged £1,000 from a Tesco funding scheme.

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help funding initiative, which sees grants raised from carrier bag sales being awarded to thousands of local community projects every year.

Millions of shoppers voted in stores up and down the country. And it can now be revealed Pebbles Playgroup has been awarded £1,000.

Work will now begin on bringing the project to life.

Pebbles Playgroup meets inside St. Issell’s Church, Saundersfoot, on a Monday morning during term time and is a place for carers of pre-school age children to meet for coffee and a chat whilst the children play.

The playgroup were fortunate to receive a kickstart grant from St. David’s Diocese to purchase equipment and now require some storage space which will need to be in keeping with the inside of the church building.

The Bags of Help funding will also enable the group to buy a wider variety of toys and games for the children.

The playgroup leaders said: “We are extremely grateful to the customers of Tesco for voting for us. In this day and age it is extremely hard to fundraise.

“We only charge families £1 to attend our playgroup as we are not trying to make money, but this grant will be very welcome to help us move forward during the next few months.”

Alec Brown, Tesco’s head of community, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success. We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from our customers.

“The great thing about Bags of Help is that local people are invited to decide how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”

Bags of Help criteria has recently been extended to include any project that benefits the community.

Previously the scheme funded outdoor projects only.

Groundwork’s national chief executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “Bags of Help continues to fund thousands of projects across the UK. We want to ensure that the money raised benefits as many local people in as many different places as possible, so we’ve extended the range of groups and projects that we can support. ”

Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities.

Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online.

To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.