Members of a community group in Waltham Forest met with MPs and charity workers in Westminster this week to celebrate a pioneering project helping families in disadvantaged areas.

Higham Hill Hub is one of thousands of groups across the UK to take part in Bags of Help, a scheme which give grants to community groups.

It recently received a donation of £12,000 from the project, run in partnership by Tesco and charity Groundwork, which it used to make improvements to a community café.

Launched in 2015, the initiative sees money raised from the sale of Tesco carrier bags channelled towards organisations making a difference in their areas.

More than £52 million has been awarded to 16,000 projects in the UK in the past three years.

To celebrate its success, community groups, Tesco workers and politicians attended a party in Parliament on Monday (June 18).

Tom Nicholson, Tesco regional communications manager for south east, said: “To have awarded this amount of money to thousands of groups all over Britain is a fantastic achievement – and it’s all down to our customers.

“Bags of Help continues to be a great success and we wanted to get some of our funding recipients involved in helping us celebrate. Each of the groups has a big part to play in their communities and it’s important that we brought everyone together to recognise that.

“It’s a real privilege to see community projects thriving thanks to the funding.”

Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups each time they shop.

Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions are awarded funding.

Ben Coles, director of communities and environmental services at Groundwork said: “Bags of Help is breathing life into community projects all over England.

“Working on the frontline of these projects, alongside Tesco, we see projects going from an idea, right through to completion.

"The funding is having a real impact on communities and this event will help awareness of that.”

Bags of Help funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund projects that bring benefits to locals.

Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp