THE organisers of a popular Burnham-on-Sea food and drink festival are hoping to bag a cash boost to provide people with more opportunities to learn about food.

eat:Burnham has been shortlisted to receive funding from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch the community funding scheme which sees grants of £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000 raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores awarded to local community projects.

Bev Milner Simonds, co-organiser of eat: Burnham, said if they are successful the funding will be used to support the food and drink education elements of the festival including a cook school and demonstrations.

“We know how popular the educational elements of the festival are and it is important that we keep these,” Bev said.

“We haven’t asked for the maximum amount, but this funding will help us provide more opportunities for people to learn about good, healthy, local food.”

The team said they are aiming to double the capacity of the workshops by hiring more chefs and using a larger venue.

Voting is open in the Frank Foley Tesco store in November and December and customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

A number of groups across Sedgemoor have already benefited from the Bags of Help scheme including BOSFest, St Andrew’s School, Apex Park Play Day and East Huntspill Pre-School.

Alec Brown, head of community at Tesco, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers.

“It’s such a special scheme because it’s local people who decide how the money will be spent in their community.

“There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see these come to life in hundreds of communities.”

Graham Duxbury, national chief executive of Groundwork said: “The diversity of projects that are being funded shows that local communities have a passion to create something great in their area.

“We are pleased to be able to be a part of the journey and provide support and encouragement to help local communities thrive.”

For more information about the scheme visit tesco.com/bagsofhelp.