BLEAKHOLT Animal Sanctuary is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

The supermarket has teamed up with Groundwork to launch its community funding scheme, which sees grants of up to £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000 raised from carrier bag sales in stores awarded to local community projects.

Three groups in each region have been shortlisted to receive the reward and shoppers are being invited to head along to their local Tesco stores to vote for the whichever they think should take away the top grant.

And the Ramsbottom-based animal sanctuary is one of the groups which has made the shortlist.

Bleakholt say that their project will provide an area where people of all ages will be able to interact more with some of the animals.

Stuart Murray, general manager at the sanctuary, said: “We are thrilled that Bleakholt has been selected as one of the Bags of Help organisations. Each year we find new homes for more than 1,000 animals and this project will help potential adopters have more contact with some of the animals”.

Voting is open in all Tesco stores throughout January and February, and customers can cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out each time they shop.

The Bags of Help project has already delivered more than £40 million to 9,700 projects across the UK.

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