SPICE Girl Mel C is to donate the royalties from her latest single to a Calne charity.

Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm was so impressed by homeless project No Place Home, organised by Derry Hill-based Kandu Arts for Sustainable Development, she has decided to donate profits from the forthcoming single If That Were Me to the cause.

Kandu director Ed Deedigan said: "Mel had been looking to donate the royalties to a homeless charity and as we deal with sustainability and arts and she is an artist herself, it combined brilliantly."

As well as donating all the royalties from the single, due out on November 24, Mel has also given Kandu 50 tickets to take local youngsters to see her perform in concert at Wembley on November 5, where they have permission to make a collection for the charity and meet her backstage.

Mr Deedigan was delighted to hear of the pop star's interest after having problems getting funding in the local area and will now be able to make the project a national one, touring 12 major cities in the UK.

Kandu will work with young homeless people through the arts and various workshops with presentations to the relevant organisations and local authorities at the end of each session.

No Place Home, which will culminate in a national conference in Liverpool attended by Mel, will look to highlight the issues surrounding homelessness, particularly through the eyes of young people.

Mr Deedigan said: "This is a really important issue.

"In a beautiful little place like Wiltshire you wouldn't think it would ever exist but people are homeless in every corner of our communities.

"This issue needs to be high up the social agenda and it's about time it had as much coverage as things like the Euro or how many pints William Hague has been drinking."

An independent production company will be filming the workshops as part of a television documentary about Kandu's work in the community, some of which has given Wiltshire County Council national recognition for its social services work.

Mel, who has had a successful music career as a solo artist as well as a member of the internationally chart-topping Spice Girls, wrote her new song If That Were Me, about homelessness.

Mr Deedigan said: "It's a brilliant song. She's saying if that were me, someone in her position, then people would look, but many people see homeless people on the streets and just turn away.

"She is asking how people get into that situation and these are exactly the issues we want to get across. It is so easy to become homeless and people don't just choose to be like that because of some radical decision to drop out."