Community projects in Bury St Edmunds will have the chance to receive a big cash boost as part of Tesco’s centenary celebrations.

Two special ‘Bags of Help’ voting rounds will take place to mark the supermarket’s anniversary with a funding pot of £100,000.

Bags of Help, run in partnership with Groundwork, sees funding awarded to thousands of local community projects every year, and more than £122,000 has been given to 45 projects in Bury.

Throughout July and August the first of two special funding rounds will concentrate on groups delivering health and wellbeing benefits – with a particular focus on groups tackling cancer, heart disease and diabetes in line with Tesco’s National Health Partnership.

Applications are open to all community projects bringing benefits across a region, with Tesco colleagues involved in shortlisting three applications in each area.

Customers are then invited to vote for which group they would like to receive grants of £25,000, £15,000 and £10,000, casting their votes using blue tokens handed out at the checkout.

Another voting round will launch in November, with even more projects sharing in the cash over the course of the year.

Alec Brown, Tesco’s head of community, said: “In 2019 we are celebrating a century of delivering great value for our customers. “And what better way to celebrate this occasion than by using our flagship community grant scheme Bags of Help to support even more groups and organisations who are helping to make a difference across Britain.”

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s national chief executive, said: “This is an exciting time for Bags of Help, with many more communities given the opportunity to apply for larger amounts of funding that can make a positive, long-lasting legacy where they live.

“We look forward to seeing a wide-range of innovative projects that boost the health and wellbeing of our communities spring to life across Britain.”

Anyone can nominate a project for Bags of Help and Bags of Help centenary grants, and organisations and groups looking to find out more or apply can visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp