TAVISTOCK Museum has bagged a grand total of £4,000 from Tesco’s Bags of Help community grant scheme for its new film project.

Bags of Help is run in partnership with environmental charity Groundwork and sees grants raised from the sale of carrier bags awarded to thousands of local community projects every year.

The new film will be entitled This is Tavistock and will welcome visitors to the museum and tell them what they can see in the town.

It will introduce them to heritage features such as the remains of the lost Abbey, Drake Statue, Tavistock Canal and the many domestic and civic buildings built by the Bedford Estate, as well as more recent additions such as the refurbished pannier market and the new sensory garden. It will additionally show some of the more important artefacts in the town museum.

Roderick Martin, manager of the museum, said: ‘We are delighted to receive this grant and thank everyone who has supported us last September and October at the Tesco store in Tavistock.

‘A new film promoting the town is long overdue and it will have a positive impact on local tourism. The film will be approximately ten minutes long which we believe is sufficient to tell visitors about Tavistock and allow them to get much more out of their visit. Besides being screened in the museum the new film will be made available for downloading and purchase as a DVD.’

Alec Brown, Tesco’s head of community, said: ‘Bags of Help has been a fantastic success and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers. It’s such a special scheme because it’s local people who decide how the money will be spent in their community.

‘We can’t wait to see the project come to life.’

Voting ran in stores throughout September and October with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the checkout.

Tesco customers have the chance to vote for three different groups each time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions are awarded funding.

Groundwork’s national chief executive Graham Duxbury said: ‘Bags of Help continues to enable local communities up and down Britain to improve the local spaces and places that matter to them.

‘The diversity of projects that are being funded shows that local communities have a passion to create something great in their area. We are pleased to be able to be a part of the journey and provide support and encouragement to help local communities thrive.’

Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp

The new film project has previously received a grant of £250 from Tavistock Lions.