ALTON Men’s Shed is appealing for public votes to bag a share of a £2.9m carrier bag charge fund.

Men’s Shed members are bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ to support the launch of a project to meet the needs of older people in the community.

The supermarket has teamed up with Groundwork on its ‘Bags of Help’ initiative, which sees grants of up to £4,000 – all raised from the five pence bag levy – being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.

Three groups in each of Tesco’s 416 regions have been shortlisted to receive the cash awards – and Alton Men’s Shed is one of them.

From tomorrow (September 1) until the end of October, shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.

In the Alton and Bordon area, shoppers can vote at the Tesco Express stores on Anstey Lane, Alton, at the Oak Green shopping parade on the A31 at Four Marks, and Tesco on Bordon High Street.

All three charities will receive a cut of a £7,000 pot, with the charity gaining the most votes receiving up to £4,000, the second charity up to £2,000, and the third up to £1,000.

Now heading toward its third year, Alton Men’s Shed is a small group intent on carrying out community projects in the town and surrounding area. Projects to date include the repair of two bus shelters, work in the Allen Gallery garden, projects on behalf of the Alton Local Food Initiative group, the interior decoration of the Cardiac Rehab charity shop, and the conversion of a horse trailer into a mobile snack bar for Gilbert White’s House Museum at Selborne.

While for individuals the group has undertaken such tasks as garden clearance and carpentry repairs.

It is now hoping to secure some Tesco funding to enable the purchase of small equipment and materials needed to run craft projects for senior Radian Housing tenants, predominantly retired men living on their own, to encourage them to meet up and take an interest in making items such as bird boxes and picture frames, rather than sitting in front of the television all day on their own.

Alton Men’s Shed is urging people shopping at Tesco over the next two months to place the ‘Bags of Help’ token, which they have to request, in the Men’s Shed section at each of the three stores.