Devizes Opportunity Centre manager Betty Newman has been kept busy in the best possible way in recent days as she goes from one cheque presentation to another collecting money for our Give Us A Chance appeal.

She was at the Wyvern Club in Devizes to collect £1,000 made from table top sales and a bingo evening and also popped in to Rowde Academy to collect £130 from a cake stall organised by teaching assistant Jo Harper and Year 5 pupil Evie Harcourt-Cooz.

But on Thursday she did not have to leave the centre in Bellevue Road as solicitor Eloise Harper and Andy Trusler from Bag4Sport Foun-dation came to her.

They presented Mrs Newman with a cheque for £500 raised by Goughs solicitors when they took part in a spin-a-thon organised by Bag4Sport Foundation.

Mr Trusler said: “We like to give money raised in Wiltshire to Wiltshire causes and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do that. We want to help the children here get the best possible start and play and activity is part of that.”

Mrs Newman said the centre had applied for a grant from Bag4Sport Foundation to help the mobility of children who go to the centre with a variety of disabilities.

Miss Harper was impressed with the work carried out by Mrs Newman and her team.

She said: “We are so glad to be able to contribute to the Give Us A Chance Appeal and for the rest of the £1,000 we raised at the spin-a-thon to go to other good causes.”

The Gazette’s appeal to raise money to help make up the £50,000 difference in the amount it costs to run the centre each year and the grant it receives from Wiltshire Council was also given a £750 boost this week by an anonymous donor.

Mrs Newman said: “It was a lovely surprise. We are just so grateful to everyone in the community who are backing us with donations big or small.”

n The Dolphin pub in Northgate Street, Devizes will be on target to boost our Give Us A Chance appeal on Sunday from 1.30pm when it stages charity darts and pool tournaments. Entrants can turn up on the day and pay £5 to play.