Three local causes shared a bumper £18,658.30 when the Co-op's annual fundraising campaign reached its conclusion.

Each year Co-op stores ask local people to nominate deserving community causes and three are selected to benefit.

When Co-op members buy selected Co-op products and services from the local store, 2p for every £1 spent is donated by the Co-op to support community organisations and local causes.

And the three local causes all celebrated when they joined together for a short ceremony outside the Co-op store in Middlewich Road, Sandbach.

Members shopping at the Co-op's four Sandbach stores have helped raise this amount and will now start raising money for next year's three causes.

Representatives from the three causes selected attended the ceremony to collect their cash and share details about their schemes.

Sandbach School and Sixth Form College's CAUC Electric Car Team are in the fast lane after receiving £5,905.30 to build a new streamlined electric car. Students Cate Rook (17) and Phoebe Fogg (16) together with Jeff Davies who runs the team attended the presentation. Girls get to design, build and race several electric cars in the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge competition. Mr Davies said: "This money is amazing and will make all the difference. The work we do is amazing and gives the girls the chance to have a go at so many things. Engineering is so diverse." Leonard Cheshire's Hill House in Sandbach received £6,645.88 to help build a cinema type experience with family and friends so residents and their families can watch some of the latest films together. St Johns Church of England School at Sandbach Heath received £6,287.42 to build an outside greenhouse classroom and path in the sow and grow area. The classroom can house around 20 children and is used for a variety of things from planting activities to craftwork and art. The Co-op received applications from eight organisations or groups for the next three Sandbach projects. The winners were Sandbach United Football Club, Sandbach Partnership's Youth Forum and Elworth Hall School Association (the PTA for Elworth Hall Primary School) to build a sensory garden.