A FARNWORTH church has been given a boost after the public voted for them to receive funding.

Farnworth Baptist Church's Financial Freedom for Farnworth project will receive £35,000 from NatWest's Skills and Opportunities funding.

Over 800 not-for-profit organisations applied for the latest round of funding from the bank and following a public vote the project won.

Rev John Bradbury said: "We are so pleased to have been successful in getting this grant funding. It will help us to support many more individuals who are facing difficult economic circumstances and bring tangible financial freedom for Farnworth."

The Freedom for Farnworth project aims to support and empower people facing crisis because of debt or low income.

People will be given skills to manage their finances and a self-help group will be set up to

The church will also provide employability training and a job club.

In addition the courses can be tailored to the needs of people who do not speak English as a first language.

It is projected that the project will help 500 people manage their money and find a way out of financial crisis.

Pauline Everitt, operations manager at the church, said: "We were thrilled to receive the money. We were delighted to have even got through to the shortlist so to actually get the funding is even better.

"This service will feed in to other services we offer providing a holistic service.

"A lot of people are stressed by money and the benefit cuts make it worse so this will help them.

"People have voted for us to win which shows that there is a need for this in the community."

Richard Topliss, chairman of NatWest's north regional board, said: “It was a challenging decision because of the standard of entries we received. But the panel felt that all of the organisations would make a massive impact in their local communities.

“I would encourage anyone who wasn’t successful this time to try again when applications open for the next round.”

The fund is a way for the bank to contribute to local communities.

This year they have committed £2.5m to fund projects in charities, social enterprises, community groups, state-funded schools and colleges across the UK and Ireland.

Over 800 organisations from across the UK and Republic of Ireland applied to this year's fund before a total of 90 were chosen to enter the public vote.

A further £2.5m to be split across two rounds in 2017.

For more information on how to get involved with the fund visit www.skillsandopportunitiesfund.natwest.com