THE festive season may be over, but the team at Waitrose is still in the giving spirit, handing out two big charity cheques last week.

On January 7 the Okehampton store donated £640 to the cancer charity FORCE, and £200 to the Turning Tides project through its Community Matters scheme.

Last June, FORCE, Friends of the Oncology and Radiotherapy Centre, Exeter, launched a support and information service at Castle Ham Lodge in Okehampton. The charity has run a similar service in the grounds of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital for the past decade, but the Okehampton outreach programme was one of the first of its type launched by the charity alongside a similar outreach programme in Tiverton.

The sessions provide support and counselling, complementary therapies, information and advice from experienced nurses and help with referrals to welfare and benefits advice.

The service is completely free and open to cancer sufferers and those close to them, including carers and family members.

Peter Payne, a member of the FORCE fundraising team, said: 'These sessions offer an alternative to booking an appointment in Exeter.

'When people are suffering with cancer or worried about someone close to them, having to worry about a bus trip, or driving in to see us can be an extra burden. So this service takes that away and helps people right on their doorstep.'

The FORCE outreach service runs in Castle Ham Lodge every Wednesday from 10am to 4pm.

Support and counselling and complementary therapy appointments will need to be booked in advance, but information and advice will be available to anyone who drops in, including help with referrals to welfare and benefits services.

For further details or to book an appointment, please call 01392 406151 or 01392 402086.

The Turning Tides Project aims to provide equal access to the arts and everyday opportunities for people with learning disabilities.

Based in mid Devon and running a weekly session in Okehampton, the project is run by a group of artists, teachers, dancers, musicians, facilitators, enablers and support workers who believe that everyone has the right of equal access to the arts.

They facilitate their work through arts taster days, weekly arts sessions, a gig and theatre buddies scheme and more to ensure that people with learning difficulties who want access to the arts can get there.

The project was set up by Jane Williams, an occupational therapist and musician.

She worked as a freelance music facilitator for people with learning disabilities, on the autism spectrum or with challenging behaviour for seven years.

Through this she realised that enabling access to passions like art, dance, poetry and music helped people to participate in society, and remove some of the hurdles put up by their disability.

The community interest company has also recently launched EPIC, 'Empowering People In their Community'.

The project aims to provide access to activities that may not be easily accessible for those with learning disabilities. Among the activities users have chosen to take part in are going swimming, going to the cinema and late night shopping in Exeter.

Vicky Hooper, co-ordinating the EPIC project, said: 'From going to the pub to visiting the cinema, the EPIC project is designed to make a difference to a person's everyday life, opening up things that might not otherwise be readily available to them.

'It is a very person centred way of working, in that the activities we do are chosen by the user. From the everday to something more adventurous like going on holiday, we are open to their suggestions.

'We think that if these opportunities are open to everyone else, then why not to those with learning disabilities too?'

To find out more about the Turning Tides project, visit the website at http://www.theturningtidesproject.org.uk">www.theturningtidesproject.org.uk or call 01363 772512.

To find out more about the EPIC project call Vicky Hooper on 07853 366040.

If your organisation could benefit from the Community Matters scheme, contact Theresa Edwards on [email protected]">[email protected] or enquire at the customer help desk in the store.