CHEQUES to local charities have been handed over after this year’s Calne Bike Meet raised a total of £2,100 for local groups.

Calne Youth Trust and Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service (EVS) got £700 apiece, with the remaining £700 to be used by the Rotary Club itself for its own charity work in the town.

Mercy Baggs, who has run the Calne Youth Trust for 17 years, said: “Without money from groups like the Rotary Club of Calne, the Trust wouldn’t be able to exist.”

She told the presentation night on Thursday (sep 22) about the work done by their drop-in centre for children aged 11-18 on Wood Street, Calne, which provides children with a range of activities and a safe place to go on Thursday and Friday nights.

Chris Kearns, of Freewheelers EVS, spoke about the charity’s out-of-hours motorcycle courier service to hospitals in the South West, where volunteers deliver items from medical equipment to blood for transfusions.

Freewheelers was given The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2008.

Alastair Muir, of the Rotary Club of Calne, thanked both charities for the work they do for the community.

The Bike Meet on July 30 raised money through included a helmet and jacket drop-off service and a Rotary Café, with 450 bacon rolls and pieces of cake being served during the day.