Fundraising is in the bag for town shoppers

MIDDLEWICH residents are being offered the chance of a lifetime with the latest shopping accessory to hit the streets.

Super-strong reusable carrier bags are being sold by four different town organisations and each bag has a three-fold benefit - to encourage recycling and protect the environment, support market town shopping and fundraise for its organisation.

These bags for life, which are printed with 'support your Cheshire market town' and come complete with a swing tag to show which group the bag is helping, were donated to Middlewich Vision by Cheshire County Council.

They are being sold by Middlewich Clean Team, Microchips cyber café and Middlewich women's group, as well as Middlewich Vision.

Janet Chisholm, from the Clean Team, said: "For every bag we sell for £2 the Clean Team makes £1.

"We've got 250 bags so we want all the people of Middlewich to come and support us by buying one.

"They'll also be helping the environment because they're bags for life."

As a regular litter picker Janet knows the damage that discarded carrier bags can do to the environment.

She said: "There are a lot of carrier bags left lying around and it really upsets us because they're so untidy and it only takes a second to put them in the bin.

"We're really encouraging people to buy a bag for life and use it."

Caroline O'Brien, from Middlewich Vision, said: "We didn't really want private businesses to benefit from these bags which is why we sold them to community groups to sell on and help them raise money.

"We have made £80 so far which we'll be ploughing into projects."