There’s still time to help four town groups get a much-needed cash boost.

Caring Hands in the Community, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Tunstall Primary School and The Harmony Therapy Trust have been shortlisted for a grant from the Lloyds Bank community fund.

But how much they get depends on the number of votes they each receive.
The one with the most will be awarded £3,000, second £2,000, third £1,000 and fourth £500.

The MS Society helps people living with the condition through support meetings, outings, respite and equipment grants and adapting homes for sufferers. It also provides physiotherapy.

The award would allow it to expand these sessions, and hire a physiotherapist and hall so that people with MS can be more mobile.

Tunstall school and its Parent Teacher Association are working together to buy a defibrillator.

It would then need extra funds to pay for training and maintenance of the life-saving equipment, which can be used if a person suffers a cardiac arrest.

The aim is to share it with the local community by mounting it at the front of the school so it can be used by parishioners at the nearby church, residents and village hall user groups in an emergency.

The Harmony Therapy Trust provides holistic therapy to people with life-altering illnesses, sometimes terminal.

The money would allow it to support families by offering them counselling and relaxation therapies to help them cope as “carers are often the forgotten people when illness strikes within a family”.

Caring Hands in the Community supports the homeless and families in poverty by providing food, medical attention, laundry facilities, housing advice, internet access and outreach support and more.

The grant would enable a community garden to be created for ‘reflection and relaxation’ for some of its more vulnerable clients.

Voting can be done online, by SMS text message, visiting a local Lloyds Bank branch and, for the first time, using Twitter.

The deadline is October 10.

To find out more and vote, visit www.lloydsbank.com/communityfund