AGE UK in Blackburn will now be able to buy some essential equipment thanks to the Lancashire Telegraph.

The charity has been awarded £1,180 by the Gannett Foundation which will be used to provide specialised recliner chairs for the Spring Bank Court Centre at Mill Hill.

The charitable foundation, which is owned by the parent company of the Lancashire Telegraph, supports local projects, organisations and activities in communities across the UK.

Vicky Shepherd, chief executive of Age UK Blackburn and Darwen, said: “The centre helps aound 20 frail elderly people every day and these chairs will make a real difference.

“We are very grateful to the Gannett Foundation for their generosity.”

In the past 10 years, the Gannett Foundation has made grants of more than £4 million throughout the country, with many groups in Lancashire benefiting.

Gannett is the owner of Newsquest Media Group which publishes the Lancashire Telegraph and the foundation is its charity arm.

Last year it provided a grant of £10,000 to the Pumping Marvellous char-ity, based in Hapton, which was used to install heart defibrillators in schools.

Ten ‘hotspot’ schools received the equipment, in areas with a higher than average cardiac arrest rate.

Without the device there is a five per cent survival chance if you suffer a cardiac arrest.

But by combining the shock treatment with CPR this rises to 40 to 50 per cent.

In the past 10 years, the Foundation has made grants in the UK totalling more than £4 million.