CHARITIES in Salisbury, south Wiltshire, Dorset, and the New Forest are once again invited by the Journal to apply for grants of up to £50,000 from the Gannett Foundation.

The foundation, which is the charity arm of Gannett Co Inc, the owner of the Newsquest Media Group incorporating the Salisbury and Forest Journals, and the Avon Advertiser, offers charities the chance to bid for funding cash twice a year.

The deadline for applications is March 13 and the foundation invites bids from youth projects, projects that benefit people with special needs either through disability or disadvantage, and sport, environment, conservation and local history projects.

Applications must be from registered charities only and grants will not cover general running costs, salaries, training costs, endowment funds, general appeals, general contributions to costs or multi-year campaigns.

The foundation does not give grants to schools, public or private, except to those catering for children with disabilities or complex needs. They will also not give grants to national or regional organisations, unless the project addresses specific local community needs, political, religious or uniformed groups, medical or research organisations, or animal charities.

Last year, the Tisbury community transport group received a donation for £10,000 to fund a new purpose-built minibus and the New Forest-based charity Sailability, which teaches disabled people to sail, was awarded £5,000.

After receiving their cheque last year, Vivian Longland, Tisbus group's honorary secretary, said: "We have a lot of people living here who are very isolated and without the bus, travel is very difficult.

"We had been surviving with hand-me-down buses for a long time but getting the Gannett Foundation award was brilliant news and allowed us to buy a brand-new bus."

Applications must be submitted on the approved form, which can be obtained from Bill Browne, Publisher, Salisbury, Newspapers, Rollestone House, Rollestone Street, Salisbury, SP1 1DY, or by e-mailing his secretary, Hilary Howell, at hilary.howell@salisburyjournal.co.uk LAST year's successful recipients of a £10,000 Gannett Foundation grant, Tisbury's Tisbus group, have unveiled two brand new minibuses purchased with the money.

The group, which provides transportation for both individuals and groups in and around Tisbury who have difficulty in accessing normal transport services, held a specially ceremony at the Hinton Hall, in Tisbury, on Saturday, to commission the two purpose-built minibuses into service.

More than 40 guests, trustees members and users of the Tisbus service saw the vehicles, a 12-seater Renault Master and a nine-seater Renault Traffic, officially welcomed to the group's fleet by Lady Margadale.

David Medd, the chairman of Tisbus, said: "This is a momentous day for Tisbus and is a reward for all the hard work carried out by so many people since our inception in 2000.

"Donations from Help the Aged, the Garfield Western Foundation, the Batty Foundation, the Big Lottery Fund, and, of course, the Gannett Foundation, have enabled us to buy these two brand new, purpose-built vehicles and will allow us to do so much more in providing for the transportation needs of our community.

"It marks a huge turn around for us as it was not that long ago that we had to borrow £1,000 from the local council to replace an engine of one of our old buses.

"Now we finally have the financial stability which will take the fund raising pressure off for a few years and allow us to do the work we set out to do at our inception."

For more information e-mail: tisbus@greenbee.net, visit: www.tisbus.co.uk, or call: 01747 870995.