charities in Malvern, Ledbury and Bromyard are being given a festive boost with cash grants from the Lloyds TSB charitable foundation.

Malvern Women's Project will receive £4,000, the Ledbury-based Salter's Hill Charity £3,220 and Bromyard and District Age Concern £3,000.

Sharon Rolleston, manager at Malvern Women's Project, said: "We're absolutely delighted, we're over the moon. This will go a long way to help us".

She said the refuge provided shelter for 59 women with 65 children in the year to April 2001.

"This money will help us to buy toys and equipment for the children and pay for outings like trips to the seaside. Some of these children have never seen the seaside."

The Salter's Hill Charity, which runs a home for people with learning difficulties just outside Ledbury, is putting the money towards an extension which will enable them to increase the number of residents from six to eight.

Celia Kay, for the charity, said: "The total cost of the project is £40,000-£45,000 and we have raised just in excess of £25,000 so far. We're hugely grateful to the foundation for their help."

Building work is already under way and it is hoped the extension will be completed in February, 2002, with new residents moving in the following month.

The grant to Bromyard Age Concern will help pay the salary of a project officer, who is running free computer taster courses for the over-50s.

David Hendry, for Age Concern, said: "Bromyard Resource Centre was running courses and they said they were attracting very few over-50s, so we decided to give it a go ourselves.

"It has been very successful, we've had about 100 people on the course since it started in April and most of them have wanted to find out more. It's important that older people keep up with things like the Internet."

The Lloyds TSB Foundation receives one per cent of the banking group's profits; last year it was given £34.4 million to distribute to registered charities in the UK.

Karen Argyle, the foundation's West Midlands co-ordinator, said: "I'm delighted that the foundation has been able to support a wide range of community causes that will help bring some festive cheer to local people."