RESIDENTS at a Bidford home for people with learning disabilities have received a new people carrier vehicle.

Warwickshire Friends of Home Farm Trust have raised £18,000 in the last year for a new vehicle for residents at the charity's Arden Vale homes in Bidford.

The nine residents at Gaston House and Dolphin House in Waterloo Road will benefit from the people carrier.

Gill Mercer, western regional fund development manager for the trust, said: "It will make such a difference, the vehicle is perfect for taking people on days out, on holiday and to their activities in the local community. A big thank you to the Warwickshire Friends of Home Farm Trust."

The Friends have been raising money for Home Farm Trust for more than 30 years and have already helped to provide computer equipment, essential furnishings and specialist equipment for Arden Vale, which has residential homes in Bidford, Stratford and Evesham.

The keys to the new vehicle were handed to Jeannette Rix, services manager at Arden Vale, at the trust's annual summer luncheon in Knowle earlier this month.

4 Sonia West and Simon Sutcliffe at Gaston and Dolphin House, Bidford with the new minibus. Picture by STUART PURFIELD dc4024