Three Hampshire charities have received more than £10,000 grant funding by the owners of the Southern Daily Echo.

The Cedar School in Nursling has been given £3,200 towards gardening tools and plants for its special needs education facilities, whilst the 23rd Itchen North Scouts have been awarded £2,960 for tents and shelters.

Testlands Support Project has also been given £4,410 to purchase supplies for its holiday club activities during the school breaks. 

The funding comes courtesy of the Gannett Foundation which is the parent company of Newsquest, the owners of the Daily Echo, Andover Advertiser and other newspapers in the UK.

Applications were made to the Daily Echo as well as other areas served by Newsquest’s 165 news brands.

Gannett, which owns the media group, is the largest news publisher in the US.

In 2015, grants and matching gifts totalled almost £3.6 million, focusing on grass-roots community programs, educational efforts and projects supporting young people and families.

More than £300,000 worth of UK grants were given to community organisations working to benefit disadvantaged youth, seniors and the disabled.

Editor of the Southern Daily Echo, Ian Murray, said: “I am delighted that through the Gannett Foundation we are able to help such worthy causes.

"Each year the foundation makes available tens of thousands of pounds for truly local community based good causes and this is just part of how your local newspaper continues to support your community.”

Over the last ten years alone, the fund has given away more than £3 million to help community causes from Scotland to the West Country.

The three winners this year have collected a total of £10,570 for their community projects having been selected by the group of trustees.

The grants are made once a year when the trustees meet in November with promotions starting in Newsquest’s regional newspapers from July onwards.