A COMMUNITY centre is £30,000 richer thanks to a variety of grants given to it in the past few weeks.

The Longford Neighbourhood Services Centre received three £10,000 grants in March, allowing it to open its cafe for longer, employ an admin worker and organise a field trip for its users.

Last Monday the cafe in the Sandy Lane centre began opening for lunch, thanks for a grant from Bridging the Gap.

A Coalfields grant has paid the salary of admin assistant Jane Jackson.

A further grant from Awards For All will fund a trip for 42 people to the battlefields in Belgium this summer.