The trustees and staff of Home-Start Kennet are pleased to announce that the value of the work the charity does in the Kennet area of Wiltshire has been recognised with a grant from the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund of £266,000 to support the charity’s work over the next three years.

This grant will help to underwrite the continuation and expansion of the service until 2016 by providing three quarters of the charity’s funding. It means Home-Start Kennet will be able to help more families in the Devizes, Marlborough, Pewsey and Tidworth areas.

A spokesman for the charity said: "We would like to thank all our local supporters who have helped us to keep our service going over the last few very difficult years and enabled us to apply to larger funders from a more stable position. We shall still have to raise additional funds to match part of the Lottery funding, so your support will still be needed and valued in the coming months and years."

Home-Start Kennet is a local charity that has been supporting families with young children in the Devizes, Marlborough, Pewsey and Tidworth areas for 25 years.

The spokesman added: "We provide a very special service: volunteers, who are all parents themselves, are professionally trained by the staff team and supported to help families under stress. Families have at least one child under five.

"The volunteer visits the family at home once a week and can give support with such things as stimulating play activities for children; parenting strategies; accessing local services; family budgeting, or sometimes simply by providing a skilled listening ear when problems need sharing, thus lessening feelings of isolation.

"If you think you might benefit from the support of one of our volunteers you can contact us direct by phone on 01672 569457, or by email at homestartkennet.a@btconnect.com. The service is entirely confidential. Your health visitor, doctor, children’s centre or the Army Welfare Service are some of the people who can also refer you.

"With this funding we will be able to recruit more volunteers. If you feel that you would like to help a family in this way, or just want to find out more, please contact us on the above number or by email. Our new website can also tell you more www.homestartkennet.co.uk."