THE future of a community group has been assured with a £1 million award from the Government Office for South East and South East England Development Agency.

During the last two years Thanet Community Development Trust has brought nearly £3 million into the area through government and other funding.

A spokeswoman said: “This latest award is specifically designed to maintain the company over the next two years, enabling it to continue to help the community. It will also give it the opportunity to build its assets and develop its services, in order to expand in the future.”

Since the Trust began, it has helped 87 people find jobs and supported more than 800 people develop their skills and enable them to take on voluntary work.

More than 100 community groups have been assisted; help has included providing training, premises and guiding them towards funding of their own. Local children’s nurseries have been able to provide an extra 200 childcare places using Lottery funding that the Trust secured.

The success of the Trust is starting to create interest elsewhere in the county and in Europe. Calls are being received from Dover, Canterbury, Kent County Council and even organisations in Lille in France and Seville in Spain, seeking to work with us on future projects.

Keith Morris, Trust chief executive, said, “We are delighted to have won this bid. The staff worked extremely hard to ensure we achieved it and can feel proud of themselves. We will now be able to look to the future with confidence and continue to develop our services, not only in Thanet, but also hopefully further afield.”