GRANTS of up to £3,000 are available for projects inspired and led by Redditch community groups.

Discovering Worcestershire Community Grants, available through Worcestershire County Council's Countryside Projects Team, may also be awarded to projects relating to the natural or built-up environment, cultural or socio-economic heritage.

A successful project application in Redditch this year is for the development of an oral history of the town before Redditch New Town was built, approximately from 1920-60.

Anne Bradford, with support from Bordesley Historical Society, Forge Mill Museum and Redditch Library, will be collating information through interviews and photographs and the completed works will be exhibited in libraries.

The grants are divided into two schemes - a start-up grant for a maximum of £1,000 which could be linked to costs such as project promotion or the cost of a speaker, or an implementation grant for up to £2,000 which could be spent on materials, labour and hiring equipment.

For more details, call the Countryside Service Projects Team on 01905 766493.