A brand-new fund has been officially launched to specifically help voluntary groups across the Staffordshire Moorlands.

We Love The Moorlands was launched last week (Thursday 7th October) by The Community Foundation, working with an advisory panel, who will help to manage the promotion, fund-raising and distribution of the grants.

We Love The Moorlands is a community fund which will provide small grants of up to £1000 to a range of projects only in the Moorlands area.

It will raise money by company and individual donations and fund-raising activities and then award grants twice a year.

Local businesses such as Ornua and Hewitt & Carr are already on board, and the first fundraising event, the Three Town Trail, which will see walkers complete a 40-mile circuit taking in Leek, Cheadle and Biddulph, has been launched. It is hoped the walk will become an annual event to promote the fund and local charities.

All money will be invested through a permanent endowment in line with charity commission guidelines.

The interest and dividends earned on the money are then distributed by the Fund as small grants across the district.

This model aims to provide a source of sustainable, permanent and on-going funding that can be used for small grants, and larger grants as the fund grows, for many years to come.

The advisory panel will be headed up by The Community Foundation trustee Judy Scott-Moncrieff, of Leek, together with Natalie Hewitt (Hewitt & Carr Architects), Karen Bradley (MP), Karen Coleman (Excello Law) and Kate Taylor (Ornua).

Judy launched the event by announcing that We Love The Moorlands is 'for the Moorlands, by the Moorlands.' She said, "Our aim is to raise money from within the area, helping those closest to us.

"Someone once told me, 'Helping someone doesn't change the World, but it can make a world of difference'. This is going to be my mantra, my rallying call to people across the district to raise money for their local voluntary groups, to help those on our doorstep. In short, We Love The Moorlands is 'for the district, by the district' ".

For more information on We Love The Moorlands please contact The Community Foundation on 01785 339540, or visit www.staffordshire.foundation/welovethemoorlands