NOMINATIONS have poured into The Press for local good causes seeking a share of the £16,000 we are giving away in our Cash for Charities drive.

George Smith, from Clifton Moor, has nominated The Hut York which supports adults with learning disabilities and/or mental health challenges in the local area.

The Hut is based at Wigginton Road, Clifton, York.

George said the money would be useful to pay for activities for members.

He said: "Our Great Outdoors group is difficult to run in the winter due to the weather so we like to switch in Food Glorious Food. This group teaches our members basic culinary skills. Our equipment is reasonably poor atm so it would be nice to get some new items."

He added: "I work for this fantastic charity and see first hand the good that it does for all its members. Supporting adults with learning disabilities and/or mental health challenges in the local area is a huge need among the community. Many of our members are quite anxious finding things to do throughout the week and we offer them a place to enjoy themselves and learn new skills along the way."

Readers have been nominating local charities for a share of the cash. Nominations are now closed.

The next stage is for Press editors to select ten of the most popular local charities to be featured in this year’s grants scheme.

We’re then going to put the power to allocate the cash back into the hands of our readers – for four weeks between October 24 and November 20, readers will be invited to collect tokens from our newspapers which can then be sent to collection points across our region or posted.

Each token collected will then be used to allocate cash to the nominated charity – so if your favourite charity collects 50 per cent of all the tokens collected, it will receive 50 per cent of the funding.

Entries must be registered charities and must not have received a grant from the scheme within the last two years.

Grants will not be awarded for payments such as salaries, professional fees or day-to-day running or maintenance costs or projects that do not bring benefits to local communities.

One of last year’s winners was York Rescue Boat – and the charity said it would spend the money on its educational outreach programme, which often works with young people.

Grants have been awarded in the past to York charities including Holgate Windmill, which used the money to buy equipment enabling it to produce flour, Citizens Advice York and The Regen Centre, a charity in Riccall which used the funding for its ‘Changing Places’ project - adapting one of its changing rooms at its community centre for people with disabilities.