A volunteer community group is celebrating after securing thousands of pounds to help them create an anniversary garden in Whittlesey.

Whittlesey Street Pride has been awarded £4,000 from Tesco’s community grant scheme, Bags of Help, after being voted for by shoppers.

The funding will be used to create a garden in Grosvenor Road celebrating the group’s 10th anniversary last year.

It will feature a raised flower bed with an eye-catching beet-cutter feature in recognition of the area’s sugar beet industry.

Fred Mills, chairman of Whittlesey Street Pride, said: “We’re delighted to have won the maximum Bags of Help grant available, and would like to thank everyone in the local community who voted for us.

“The grant means we can go ahead with our anniversary garden with beet-cutter display, which will enhance the site and the surrounding areas.”

Councillor Peter Murphy, portfolio holder for the Environment at Fenland District Council, which co-ordinates Fenland’s 14 Street Pride groups, congratulated Whittlesey volunteers for their success.

“This grant scheme sees local people decide how money should be spent in the community, so it’s great to see them support Street Pride and recognise the work volunteers do in their area. The garden sounds wonderful; I can’t wait to see it come to life,” he said.

Shoppers voted for Whittlesey Street Pride to win the Bags of Help grant at Tesco Extra Peterborough in November and December last year. Grants of £1k, £2k and £4k were available, with Whittlesey winning the top amount.

Run in partnership with environmental charity Groundwork, the scheme sees grants raised from the sale of carrier bags awarded to thousands of local community projects every year.

Since launching in 2015, the scheme has provided more than £48 million to over 13,000 local community projects.