THE work of Malvern-based charity ARCOS will be showcased on television for Children In Need day on Friday, November 15.

ARCOS - the Association for Rehabilitation of Communication and Oral Skills - is receiving about £20,000 from Children In Need this year to help fund its work.

The funding is set to continue, with about £18,000 for each of the next two years.

The charity, based at Whitbourne Lodge in Church Street, helps children and adults who have speaking or swallowing difficulties, whether due to head injury, cerebral palsy, a stroke, Downs Syndrome or any other cause.

Kay Coombes, of ARCOS, said: "We're especially grateful for this money because it will enable us to provide free training for carers - family members and care home staff - in facial oral tract therapy. It's absolutely essential work."

The training has previously been available to doctors and nurses but this is the first time it will be made available to non-medical professionals.

A BBC camera crew was in the Malvern area this week, showing how the work of ARCOS helps children, including a three-year-old girl with Downs Syndrome, a little boy with cerebral palsy and a teenager with cerebral palsy.

"We will be told closer to the time exactly when in the evening the piece will be shown," said Mrs Coombes. "It will be part of a programme showing people the good work that is done with money raised by Children In Need."