Eastleigh Community Services - an independent voluntary organisation set up to improve the quality of life for Eastleigh borough residents - has scooped a major National Lottery award.

The grant, worth more than £200,000, will provide the funding for two development workers and an admin assistant to extend their work for the next three years.

Lottery loot funded the initial appointments three years ago and now the workers will be able to continue to support existing voluntary groups in the borough plus get new ones off the ground.

An ECS spokeswoman said: "This is very welcome - we find it helpful having development workers."

ECS - a registered charity - provides wide-ranging support for the voluntary sector including a successful volunteer bureau, a carers' centre and community consultation groups, besides the development workers.

It has a membership of approximately 260 groups and it is estimated that there are an additional 100 plus other voluntary groups which meet informally.

It also offers a raft of services such as the Eastleigh Voluntary Transport Scheme, Dial-A-Ride, Shopmobility, day-care centres for frail older people, respite for carers through a sitting service and play schemes for children with learning disabilities.

Eastleigh MP David Chidgey has led the congratulations to ECS for its successful lottery bid. He said: "For many years now I have seen at first hand the excellent work done by ECS on behalf of my constituents. They richly deserve their success in winning this major grant from the National Lottery.

Mr Chidgey added that the grant to support key development workers was particularly important to strengthen the voluntary sector in areas where it was most needed. "I look forward to seeing new initiatives develop to deal with issues created, not just by new housing in the north of the borough, but by the problems of our more rural areas in the Southern Parishes," he commented.