ORGANISERS of Kidderminster's Golden Jubilee celebrations claim they have been left with £2,000 worth of debt after its grant application for Lottery funding was bungled.

Peter Picken, treasurer-secretary of the Kidderminster Golden Jubilee Partnership, described the actions of the regional office of Awards for All, which rejected its £5,000 bid, as a "fiasco."

And he said a hefty slice of the £5,000 raised for charity over the Bank Holiday would now have to be used to pay off a shortfall.

Mr Picken said advance publicity had made it clear the Government wanted the community to organise jubilee events and applications for grant aid were encouraged.

He had telephoned the Awards for All office on Wednesday, March 20, nine days before the closing date for applications, and was told it was not too late to apply.

A bid was submitted on Tuesday, March 26 and an acknowledgement of receipt on Wednesday, March 27 was sent on Monday, April 22, saying the office would get in contact if more information was needed.

"We had committed ourselves to organising events knowing that our application had been accepted and expecting some financial support," said Mr Picken in a letter to Awards for All.

But when he phoned the office on Monday, May 27 he said he was amazed to be told no grant would be awarded as the bid did not include a letter from the bank.

Requirement

However, this requirement was only introduced in new editions of the application pack and was not mentioned in the documents sent to him, he said.

Mr Picken added it was too late to return the application as the committee that allocated grant aid had already met.

A spokeswoman for Awards for All said the Kidderminster group had not allowed enough time for its bid to be processed and insisted a letter from the bank had always been a requirement.