SWIMMERS with special needs have scooped a "fantastic" £10,000 cash grant - thanks to The Press.

Every year the Gannett Foundation, a charity arm of our American parent company Gannett, hands out hundreds of thousands of dollars for good causes.

Now a large chunk of that cash will be making a big splash at the New Earswick Disabled Swimming Club.

Other good causes in our region to have benefited include a community media centre, a workshop for disabled people and a support group for people with dementia.

Noreen Astbury, the New Earswick Disabled Swimming Club's honorary secretary, said she was "lost for words" when she first heard about the grant.

She said: "What a surprise! It was absolutely lovely."

The club, founded in 1984, meets every week, and gives people with disabilities the chance to "get out of their wheelchairs, off their bottoms and float straight up in the water".

From humble beginnings, with only three founder members, the club now has 68 regular swimmers on its books.

Noreen said: "It's more than just a swimming club - it's a social morning. Members often exercise their jaws as much as their limbs.

"It helps them so much to be able to get out of the house and talk to other people. It really is a wonderful club, and everyone looks forward to it so much."

The club will use the cash to buy an electric poolside hoist to help members get in and out of the water quickly and safely.

Another charity to benefit from the Gannett Foundation cash is York-based Cube Media, a media centre which gives disadvantaged children and people with learning difficulties the chance to learn hi-tech multimedia skills.

The charity has been awarded £3,500 to purchase a special accessible laptop, an electronic keyboard with full-size keys and tailor-made audio and media software packages.

Rose Kent, Cube Media's general manager, said she was "bowled over" by the award.

Meanwhile, two more organisations have won grants through our sister paper, the Gazette & Herald.

Malton-based The Craftsworkshop won £2,500 to give adults with special needs the chance to learn printing, sewing and embroidery skills. Members will design and print their own customised T-shirts and polo shirts.

The Ryedale and Whitby branch of the Alzheimer's Society also received £650 to buy a mobile phone and laptop computer to support a new "outreach" service.

Grants are awarded twice a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn.

Last November, the Gannett Foundation made a £2,000 award to the York Cemetery Trust to buy a new wheelchair and electric scooter for elderly or disabled visitors. Harrogate-based Disability Action Yorkshire, Whitby and District Disablement Action Group and Ryedale Special Families also benefited by about £4,000 each.

Updated: 12:44 Saturday, May 20, 2006