THE bid to rebuild the Rhydd Covert activity centre is on the brink of passing the £50,000 milestone after a staggering £10,000 was donated by Kidderminster and District Youth Trust.

The cash is the largest single donation to date and has taken the £80,000 appeal soaring past the halfway mark less than a year after it was launched by the Shuttle/Times and News and Kidderminster and District Scout Council.

Charles Talbot, who set up the youth trust 40 years ago, when he was mayor of the town, said he hoped the move would give the appeal new momentum as it prepared to enter its second year.

The trust has a long and distinguished track record of financial support for Wyre Forest young people and has given more than £700,000 to district causes in the last four decades.

It was set up in 1965 with the aim of raising £120,000 to create a youth centre in Kidderminster.

Mr Talbot spotted the need for such a facility when he represented Kidderminster Borough Council on a youth committee.

With help from countless sources, including the government, the Earl of Dudley and Brintons Carpets, he achieved his aim by 1971 when Kidderminster Youth House was built in Bromsgrove Street.

In 1978 the trust leased the building and facilities to Worcestershire County Council and has since used the income to give financial support to young people's organisations such as Scout groups, schools and sports clubs.

Operation Covert - which aims to rebuild the Rhydd Covert centre after it was wrecked in an arson attack last October - is the latest in a long line of beneficiaries who have shared hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"It's our purpose in life to support young people's activities in Wyre Forest," said 74-year-old solicitor Mr Talbot, who has been town clerk of Kidderminster for 23 years.

He said the trust had long planned to back Operation Covert. and added: "We decided we would help the moment the disaster happened - it was just a question of when.

"What we wanted to do was put a new head of steam on the appeal ... we like to help causes get over the last bit of the hurdle because that encourages other people to fill up the well."

Rhydd Covert site warden, Mark Woodward, said he was "amazed" by the generosity of the donation and hoped other charitable trusts would follow suit.

"We've just started a new phase of the appeal by writing to organisations who work to help young people and we hope this will enable us to reach our target even more quickly," he said.

"Kidderminster and District Youth Trust have always been great supporters of youth in our local community and we're delighted that they have backed our appeal.

"We're just gobsmacked really by how much everyone in the community has rallied round."

l Any organisation wishing to apply for funding from the Kidderminster and District Youth Trust should contact its secretary, Vilma Lord, on 01527 833171.