A COMMUNITY group in Selby has been awarded £500 in funding from a national building society.

The Cawood Allotment Society has been named as one of Skipton Building Society’s Big 160 – beating almost 1,000 other grassroots groups across the country for funding.

The group aims to provide allotment space for local people in the community, run by volunteers who maintain it and organise events and outings based around member’s shared interests.

This year, the group want to purchase picnic tables for 80 people so allotment users can socialise between tending their plots, and the funding will go towards that.

A spokesman said: “This donation couldn’t have come at a better time for us. We want to be able to install these picnic benches so the allotments are a more sociable, relaxing area.”