A CHARITY has awarded £180,000 in grants to projects in Wokingham in a bid to help disadvantaged children.

BBC Children in Need allocated the funding through the charities Main Grants Programme, provided to help young people in local areas across the UK.

Woodland Centre Trust (Camp Mohawk) and ASD Family Help in Wokingham have received three-year grants.

The Woodland Centre Trust, which provides indoor and outdoor activities for children and young people on the autism spectrum, was awarded £91,449.

Kathryn Wood, project and family support manager at the centre, said: "Our Short Breaks project provides young people a safe space to develop their social learning.

"Our group activities give young people confidence to interact with their peers without fear of negative responses if the do not get those interactions right.

"A massive thank you to BBC Children in Need for their support."

The new funding will enable projects to provide services to young people and the charity has more than £285,000 invested locally.

ASD Family Help, a project in Wokingham, which offers child-focussed support to young people with autism, was also allocated a grant of £89,430.

Pam Bacon, regional officer of the South for BBC Children in Need, said: "The projects we fund can make a significant contribution to the lives of the children and young people they support, and we are proud to include these projects amongst them.

"Through their application, they demonstrated not only the challenges facing their beneficiaries but how they are helping to tackle them.

The charity awards grants six times during the year and funds two types of grants, which are open to new and existing applicants.

The Main Grants Programme and Small Grants Programme supports projects for up to three years and are both open to applications.

Simon Antrobus, chief executive of BBC Children in Need, added: "As always, thanks must go to our generous supporters and fundraisers, we are only able to make these much needed awards because of them. "Each project will go on to make a positive impact on the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in communities across the UK who really do need our help, so thank you for making these grants possible."