Sidmouth Lifeboat. Living With Cancer and Childrens Hospice South West to benefit from Sidmouth supermarket's charity drive.

CHARITY started at the checkout in Sidmouth this week after the launch of a new scheme that will see local causes handed a share of a £1000 monthly donation.

Shoppers at Waitrose in Stowford Rise can now have a say in who the supermarket dishes out the £1000 of funding to each month as part its Community Matters scheme.

The initiative, which began on Monday, sees each customer who passes through the checkouts given the opportunity to vote for one of three selected charities over the course of a month. The more nominations a cause gets, the greater the share of the £1000 donation it receives.Customers are handed green tokens and vote by depositing it in a box for their selected charity as they exit the store.

Sidmouth Lifeboat, Living with Cancer and Childrens Hospice South West have been chosen by Waitrose partners as this months recipients with shoppers also able to nominate causes by filling in a Waitrose Community Matters leaflet available in the store.

Branch manager Mark Shepherd said the scheme will make a huge difference to people in the area. He added: "We're passionate about our community and look forward to seeing lots of nominations from our customers in the coming months.