THE 1st Cherhill Scouts, Cubs and Beavers love camping, but up until now, a shortage of equipment has meant they've had to take it in turns to visit the great outdoors.

All that is about to change however, thanks to an award of nearly £5,000 from the National Lottery.

The groups, based at Cherhill Village Hall, were over the moon to find they'd been given the money in the latest round of South West Awards for All, announced this week.

Cub leader Shauna Bodman, 49, said the money would revolutionise the children's trips away.

"We're thrilled to bits this grant is manna from heaven," she said.

"We do have limited camping equipment, but our tents are small.

"Despite furious fundraising, we've only been able to raise small amounts of money up until now.

"This has meant that we've only been able to take small groups away at a time.

"This grant will now enable us to buy lots of great equipment, including eight-man tents, a dining shelter, pots, pans everything for great camping trips for the whole unit."

Awards for All is a Lottery grants programme making grants between £500 and £5,000. Cherhill got the maximum payment £4,999.

The awards are given to enable people to take part in art, sport, heritage and community activities, and to fund projects promoting education, the environment and health.

Last year, a total of £4.5 million of Lottery money was handed out in the South West for use by community groups.

This latest round of 178 Awards totals £650,000.

Mrs Bodman said: "We applied for the grant and hoped to get something, but to get the maximum donation is fabulous."

The Cherhill unit is booked to attend the Botany Bay camp in Gwent at the end of May.

Mrs Bodman said: "It will be the ideal opportunity to use all our new kit and have some great fun outside together, away from the television and video games."

Ray Moore, acting senior awards officer at the Awards for All HQ in Exeter, encouraged other groups to apply for Awards for All.

"The Awards for All application form is straightforward and groups will normally hear the result of their application within two months," he said.

"Although our grants may not be very large in comparison some of the other Lottery distributors, sometimes relatively small sums of money can have a big impact.

"I know these Awards make a real difference to communities throughout the South West."

Mr Moore said Awards for All are now planned for a further 100 projects per month in the first quarter of 2004 and urged other groups to apply.

"Clubs and groups thinking about applying should have a look at our programme details on our website www.awardsforall.org.uk," he said.

"With the success rate for applications currently running at 70 per cent, we are delighted to be able to fund so many very worthwhile projects in this round.

"We hope to be able to continue supporting other such projects in the future."

Awards for All application forms are also available by phoning 0845 60 20 40.