FOUR charities based in Cornwall have received a £1,000 Christmas gift thanks to Ecclesiastical Insurance.

The charities were nominated to win a share of £120,000 by members of the public as part of the specialist insurer’s annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign.

In South East Cornwall (though nominated by people in Devon) 2nd Saltash Boy Scout Group, a voluntary organisation meeting on Mondays in schools term-time at Latchbrook Community Centre and working with children to build skills, confidence and friendships through groups for Beavers (ages 6-8), Cubs (8-10 1/2), Scouts (10 1/2-14), and Explorers (14-18), plus Network (18-25), is one of the local charities set to benefit from the money following overwhelming public support in the area.

Others groups in Cornwall benefiting are Falmouth-based BF Adventure, which works with disadvantaged children to build skills, resilience and communication through outdoor activities; The Sparkle Foundation, providing support to vulnerable people experiencing crisis; and Cornwall Search Dogs, who use trained dogs to support the emergency and voluntary rescue services to find missing persons in the county.

A total of 3,294 Cornwall residents nominated a cause close to their hearts, with 90 charitable causes in the area receiving votes. The 120 winning charities across the UK were picked at random from those nominated.

Thanking supporters in Cornwall, Mark Hews, Group CEO at Ecclesiastical, said: “At Ecclesiastical, charitable giving is at the heart of our business. In fact, we are the fourth largest corporate donor in the UK*. We are able to give away so much because, uniquely, as a financial services group, we are owned by a charity. In these challenging times, we are delighted to be giving back to good courses once more with our annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign.

“Having supported thousands of charities over the past four years of the campaign, we know that £1,000 can make a real difference to the incredible work that charities do. We’re looking forward to seeing how this festive financial boost will change lives for the better and we hope these donations can bring a positive start to 2022.”

The full list of the 120 charity winners is available to view online at www.movementforgood.com/12days

For further details about the 2nd Saltash Scout Group see https://www.facebook.com/2nd-Saltash-Scout-Group-752804468472178/