SMALL charities and organisations in Tetbury could stand to benefit from a new fund set up by the town’s mayor.

Cllr Rob McCorkell, who recently started his second term as mayor, said he was keen to support some of the town’s lesser known or under supported organisations.

“I became aware during my first term as mayor that, in a lot of other councils across the country, the mayor is a ceremonial position or a figurehead,” he said. “As a result, quite a lot of them spend most of their time doing a lot of charity work.

“I don’t really have that opportunity unfortunately as I am chair of the council so I spend a lot of my time dealing with issues such as planning.”

Cllr McCorkell added he had been delighted to discover how charitable the residents of Tetbury were, and that he had discovered that, in November last year alone, £15,000 had been raised by individuals throughout the town.

“All of this sort of fundraising goes to the big things such as the new skate park, but there are a lot of little organisations which don’t have charity status,” he said.

“For example we’ve got a great organisation here in Tetbury which rents out mobility scooters to people, but they often really struggle with fundraising.”

He added the fund has been kicked off by an auction over the jubilee weekend, which raised £500.

“The idea is I want to try and do little bits and pieces where I can to help out,” he said “It’s just a minimal effort to see if I can’t raise a few pounds for some of these organisations.”