A GROUP of volunteers from Worcester and Malvern will now be able to give state-of-the-art presentations thanks to a Lottery grant.

The Worcester-Malvern National Trust Centre has received nearly £4,000 from the Lottery Awards For All scheme to use on a laptop computer, projector, computer software and other equipment, including portable sound amplification equipment to be used at the centre's meetings and events in Worcester, Pershore and Malvern.

The centre's membership secretary Peter Riley said the new equipment will be used by volunteer speakers who give talks to outside bodies like Women's Institutes and Probus Clubs. It will also be available for visiting speakers at the centre's meetings.

"We are very pleased to have the grant. We have got the money in the bank but we don't have the equipment yet," he said.

The centre has been going for about 34 years and has 650 members who attend talks, outings, holidays and social events. All indoor meetings are open to the public for a £1.50 charge and the centre donates about £5,000 to National Trust properties each year from the proceeds of events.

The centre will hold its annual meeting on Saturday February 23 at 2.30pm in Powick Parish Hall and the following event will be at Pershore Civic Centre on Wednesday March 12 at 7.30pm when the guest speaker will be Les Roger, property manager at the National Trust's Brockhampton Estate, near Bromyard.