A charity which provides help for the community and the environment has received a funding boost enabling it to buy new equipment to continue its good work.

Grants from the locality budgets of six councillors have been made to Aid and Assist Ltd, based in the High Street, Lowestoft, to buy tools and machinery to help it to run its property maintenance service.

Suffolk county councillors Sonia Barker, Janet Craig, Peter Byatt, Len Jacklin, Keith Patience and Bert Poole contributed a total of £2,750 from their locality funds.

And with this money, the charity bought a new trailer and a heavy duty drill, generator, grass strimmers and other garden tools.

Funding was also given by councillors Len Jacklin and Janet Craig for repairs to the roof of the High Street shop in which the charity runs a furniture reuse scheme.

The Aid and Assist project works with vulnerable adults and people with learning difficulties and supports 11 trainees.

The old tools and machinery the group had been using for the maintenance scheme were wearing out and there was a risk that the service would have to fold if the money was not forthcoming to replace them.

The funding has effectively rescued the maintenance scheme.

Trustee June Holroyd said that both donations were 'really fantastic'. The charity was established in 1983 and they had not had many new tools since, so this funding will help to support the trainees in everything they do.

Richard Carbonelli recently took part in a sponsored sky dive to raise £740 for Aid and Assist, which paid for a trip for the trainees to the Sea Life Centre and will fund their Christmas dinner.

Have you got a Lowestoft story? Email mark.boggis@archant.co.uk