CHARITIES in and around Sidmouth have raised more than £10,000 with a little help from the Rotary Clubs of the Sid and Ottery Valleys.

CHARITIES in and around Sidmouth have raised more than £10,000 with a little help from the Rotary Clubs of the Sid and Ottery Valleys.

The cash, which will benefit 32 charities and schools from cancer charity Force to Riding for the Disabled, came from the proceeds of the South East Devon Community Raffle.

The raffle was organised by all six of the area's Rotary clubs, who printed the tickets and distributed them to local charities to sell.

President of Sid Valley Rotary Peter Brookes said: "The community has been looking after itself with a little help from us. We couldn't be more pleased with the outcome."

Mervyn Hayes, who works for Force, said: "I would be impossible to fund our work in this area without the sort of contributions made by Rotary."

President of Otter Valley Rotary Tim Smith said: "Most of this money would not have been raised any other way."

Winning raffle tickets were drawn by the president of the six Rotary clubs in Ottery St Mary with one lucky winner bagging a holiday in the Algarve, Portugal.