TWO South Lakeland groups have won grants from The Gannett Foundation.

Kendal Sea Cadets received £2,220 for two new dinghies and South Lakeland Carers have been given £1,540 for therapy room equipment.

The money is being made available by the Gannett Foundation, set up by Gannett Co, owner of Newsquest Media Group, whose titles include The Westmorland Gazette.

It supports registered charities with projects which take a creative approach to issues such as education and improvement, economic and youth development, local problem-solving, assistance to disadvan-taged or disabled people, environmental conservation and cultural enrichment.

It values projects that bring lasting benefits to communities served by local newspapers and websites.

Kendal Sea Cadets applied for the money from The Foundation towards the cost of two laser bug sailing ding-hies which are classed as RYA starter boats and can be handled by cadets as young as ten.

Staff were delighted when they heard the good news this week. Former commanding Officer Clive Sumpter said: “This is fantastic for us. We would like to thank everyone invo-lved for awarding us this generous grant.

“We will now be able to purchase dinghies for our start sailing scheme for all the cadets here.

“As a registered cha-rity, we can only offer these schemes to our cadets because of the help of organisations like the Gannett Foundation.”

The South Lakeland Carers, based in Kendal, applied for funding to purchase equipment to furnish a therapy room and provide extra chairs and tables for meeting rooms.

The money will go towards a treatment area for carers, offering relaxation treatments with a specialist ther-apy bed.

Fund-raising officer Janice Benson said: “We were delighted to hear that we had been successful in our bid to the Foundation.

“Our assessments tell us that 66 per cent of our carers are struggling with stress and having a therapy room will make a big difference to the service we can offer.

“Carers will be able to take some time for themselves to relax and recharge their batteries, something which will also benefit their families and the people for whom they care.”