A supermarket has donated thousands to an organisation providing skills and opportunities for young people.

Tesco Prestwich Express has donated £5,000 to the Bury and Radcliffe Sea Cadets after a customer was nominated to choose a good cause to support.

Last Saturday, customers were given the chance to take part in a lucky dip to find a gold token as part of Tesco’s blue token voting system.

Bury and Radcliffe Sea Cadets was one of three organisations that shoppers could vote for to receive the £5,000 Golden Grant as part of Tesco’s Stronger Starts scheme and were chosen by the winning shopper.

Rachel Longley, commanding officer at Bury and Radcliffe Sea Cadets, said: “We are so grateful to Tesco and the customer for choosing us to receive this generous grant.

"It will make such a difference to so many children’s lives in and around North Manchester.

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“The formative years in any person’s life are so important, and we will now get to work in using this money to help local children get as good a start in life as we can give them.”

One hundred Tesco stores across the country took part in the Golden Grants initiative on Saturday, with £500,000 being donated to good causes that help children and young people.

Golden Grants are awarded twice a year as part of the £5m Stronger Starts grant-giveaway programme in partnership with the charity Groundwork UK.

The grants help schools and children’s groups provide nutritious food and healthy activities that support young people’s physical health and mental wellbeing, such as breakfast clubs or snacks, as well as purchasing equipment for healthy activities.

Wendy Howarth, community champion at Tesco Bury, said: “Our Golden Grants event was a really fun occasion, with colleagues and customers really keen to get involved and be a part of choosing which local good cause received the £5,000 grant.

“I’d like to say a big congratulations to Bury and Radcliffe Sea Cadets and, we hope the funding will help them to make a difference to many young lives within our community.”

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Schools and children’s groups can apply via Groundwork for a Stronger Starts grant of £500, £1,000 or £1,500 by going to www.tescoplc.com/strongerstarts.

Successful applications will go to a vote in their local Tesco store where customers choose which of the three projects they’d like to support by voting with a blue token.

Since Tesco launched its Community Grants programme in 2016, more than £100m has been given to more than 50,000 schools and community groups.