AN ANDOVER group has scooped £20,000 as part of a housebuilder’s campaign to help youngsters.

Andover BMX Club won the prize as Persimmon Homes has handed out more than £1,000,000 to organisations across England, Scotland and Wales as a part of its Building Futures campaign, supporting three categories – sport, education and arts, and health.

The group plans to use the money to provide their own clubhouse and floodlights.

Eric Esslemont, spokesman for Andover BMX Club, said: “We are over the moon to win £20,000. This is a huge step towards our goal of a permanent clubhouse and floodlights for our youngsters and local community as we offer a safe environment with appropriate protective equipment and coaching to participate in BMX.

“The club is located at a local authority public BMX track and operates out of a temporary container with no onsite facilities. This is a real game changer in the availability and access to all the community to participate and be fit for life. Huge thanks to everyone involved and those who supported the campaign.”

Matt Paine, managing director of Persimmon Homes South Coast, said: “The Building Futures scheme has been a great success and we had a brilliant gala evening celebrating the fantastic work of so many organisations supporting young people in our communities.

“We have been overwhelmed by both the response to the competition, and the hard work and dedication of those involved within all the groups and we are delighted that two charities from our region were big winners.”

The competition culminated in a gala dinner at York Racecourse, where representatives from all the groups were on hand to receive cheques.

Persimmon Homes congratulated 96 organisations for getting to the final stage of its Building Futures competition.

During a gala dinner, three finalists were each awarded the top prize of £100,000, three the second prize of £50,000 and three the third prize of £20,000. The first, second and third prize winners were decided by a public vote and more than 250,000 votes were cast.

The remaining 87 finalists were handed £5,000 each.

The £100,000 prize winner from the competition in the sport category was Scrappers Gym based in Swindon.