A PLAY group has been able to buy a new bookcase and equipment for its toddlers and babies after receiving a charity donation.

Acton Road Playgroup, in Esh Winning, near Durham City, has been awarded £500 from The Co-operative Group’s Community Fund.

Anne Taylor, who has run Acton Road Playgroup for the last three years, said: "The grant from The Co-operative will help us buy new books, which will help the children with their reading skills, and also new equipment, such as floor cushions, which will make sessions much more comfortable for the parents."

The group, based at Acton Road Methodist Church, was set up in 1968 to provide sessions for parents and their children, aged from babies up to three-years-old, on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

The playgroup, which currently has three volunteers but is looking to recruit another to help run the group, will use The Co-operative’s Community Fund grant to buy a new bookcase, books, baby-walkers, chairs and floor cushions.

The Community Fund is made up of money donated from Co-op members from their twice-yearly dividend payments, which is then distributed to community projects.