FIREFIGHTERS teamed up with Wiltshire Times charity bag packers to help a Trowbridge superstore unveil its new look. Retail giant Asda reopened on Saturday following a seven-day £3.5m refit to revamp its product range and store layout.

Wiltshire Times editor Toby Granville opened the store at 10am while a team of fundraisers collected money at the tills for the paper's 150th anniversary fund.

Firefighters from Trow-bridge's Bluewatch joined in, handing out fire safety advice leaflets and collecting money.

Up to £200 was raised throughout the day through both bag packing and a charity raffle, where customers were given the chance to win a DVD player donated by Asda.

All the money raised will go towards the Wiltshire Times charitable fund managed by the Wiltshire & Swindon Comm-unity Foundation. We aim to raise £20,000 this year to celebrate our 150th birthday.

Readers will get the chance to nominate charities to receive donations once we have reached our target. Asda events co-ordinator Chris Penelhum said the shop now boasted a wider range of music and videos, a rotisserie and an expanded bakery. He said: "The opening was very, very busy. We were giving away balloons and a range of products."

Times editor Toby Granville said the Asda charity bag pack and raffle was the latest in a long line of charity events.

"We are committed to reaching the £20,000 target this year and events like this really set us on our way," he said.

A Tesco-sponsored fashion show was held at the Civic Hall on Wednesday night, with half the money raised going towards our 150 Fund. DC Leisure's marketing manager Wayne Palmer choreographed the event, in which the Trowbridge-based retailer unveiled its latest range of clothing. The rest of the money will go to Dorothy House.

Choose who you want to benefit

TO celebrate the 150th birthday of the Wiltshire Times we are setting up a fund to ensure help is available for the groups and organisations our readers think are vital to the communities they live in.

Many of these groups need just small amounts of cash to keep afloat but are unable to get help from funds like the Lottery because they don't meet the criteria or are not a registered charity.

Our aim is to raise £20,000 this year, which will be invested and managed for us by the Wiltshire and Swindon Community Foundation, a registered charity which looks after £2.8m for 77 funds in the county.

The Wiltshire Times 150 Fund will allow us to give small grants annually to groups and organisations nominated by our readers. The first round of grants will concentrate on those helping children who live in our circulation area.

Organisations which could benefit might include youth clubs, playgroups and toy libraries, as well as projects which help disabled children or lone parent families.

Over the next few months we will be profiling the kinds of groups we would like to help and what they need money for.

If you would like your group to feature on this page contact news editor Holly Robinson on (01225) 352484 or email hrobinson@newswilts.co.uk