MORE than £15,000 was been donated to nearly 30 local charitable organisations by the Lions Club of Chippenham at a presentation evening on Thursday.

The club held its first ever presentation evening at Chippenham Golf Club with each charity or organisation giving a short presentation on the work they do and how the donations will help them.

Outgoing president, Richard Adams, said: “The evening has been introduced to give the club an opportunity to meet and learn more about some of the many organisations that they support.

“Each recipient was asked to give a short description of their organisation and objectives so all those attending left better informed about the wide variety of charity work being done locally.

“It was inspiring to hear about the good work being done by so many volunteers in our community.”

This year’s two President’s charities are the national organisation, Epilepsy Action and the local Chippenham-based Springboard Opportunity Group who received £2500 on the night, were both represented.

Springboard Opportunity Group manager Jane Boulton said: “I had no idea that we was what we were going to get, it was quite overwhelming.

“The money goes to cover our biggest overheads like staffing to make sure we have people in jobs to make sure we have services available for children.

“It was a really good turnout on Thursday, it got people together and I was really inspiring to hear about other organisations.”

The presentation evening brought the overall donations, by the Chippenham Lions Club, for the year to the end of June to over £26,000.