HELPFUL Holidays, the Chagford-based holiday cottage specialist, has donated £10,000 to the Marine Conservation Society, the charity responsible for the protection of seas, shores and wildlife.

The society is one of the four main charities to benefit from the company's recently announced charitable fund of £60,000. This fund was the result of the savings made when VAT was reduced to 15% in December 2008.

Helpful Holidays decided to hold their prices at the same level and not to introduce a price reduction.

Moray Bowater, general manager of Helpful Holidays, said: 'The VAT change made such a small difference to the cost of an individual holiday, we knew it would make no difference to our sales.

'But we book over 17,000 holidays annually and we knew those small amounts would add up to quite a bit over the year.

'It seemed a golden opportunity to raise some cash for charities hit hard by the recession.

'The Marine Conservation Society was an obvious choice for us, given the wonderful work they undertake to protect our seas and marine life for future generations.'

Marianne Steele, head of fundraising for the Marine Conservation Society, visited Helpful Holidays to receive a cheque for £10,000.

Marianne said: 'We're delighted with the generous donation from Helpful Holidays which will go towards our vital work for clean and litter-free seas, sustainable fisheries and protected marine life.'