John Lewis at Home dishes out first community pot

The Community Matters scheme aims to give £3,000 to charities every three months.
Charities can put themselves forward to be a part of the scheme or be nominated and once a part of it, customers place a token in the Community Matters box under one of three causes they would like to support over a three-month period.
The charity with the largest number of tokens, gets the largest share of the £3,000 kitty.
The charities to benefit from the Newbury store’s first giveaway were Newbury and District Cancer Care Trust (£1,950), Living Paintings (£550) and The Newbury Community Resource Centre (£500).
John Lewis at Home manager Dominic Joyce, who presented the cheques, said that he would encourage anyone who was part of a charity to get involved and fill out a form.
He said: “This sort of scheme is important because we want to be part of the community.
“Every shop has money to give away and it’s really important that we do things locally.”
The executive officer of Newbury and District Cancer Care Trust, Helen Milroy, said: “It’s huge because all the money we raise goes on local people and the services we provide.
“It just means such a lot.
“We are so grateful; it keeps us going and allows us to continue our work.”