A CASH grant of £1,750 from a long-running community awards scheme will help save lives in Blackburn and Darwen.

Volunteers from the Blackburn and Darwen Division of the St John Ambulance are celebrating after scooping the top prize in the Crown Paints Community Awards 2003. The £1,750 will buy a heart-start defibrillator machine to take with them to public events.

The annual awards scheme, run in association with the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's sister newspaper The Citizen and now in its 23rd year, seeks to support good causes working for the benefit of the community in Blackburn and Darwen.

St John Ambulance volunteers have been trained to use a defibrillator, which can be vital in the first few minutes after a patient's collapse, but did not have access to the equipment. They had already raised £375 and applied to the awards scheme for £400 to help them towards their £2,000 target.

But, when judges looked at the bid for cash they decided it merited much more because the equipment would benefit so many people.

Superintendent Ellie Langford, of Blackburn with Darwen St John Ambulance, said: "They will never know how much this means to us." The St John Ambulance is on duty at most public events in the community, including football matches, and school events.

This year, sponsor Darwen-based Akzo Nobel Decorative Coatings Limited is distributing almost £7,000 to 23 worthy causes in Blackburn and Darwen.

Scouts and guides, sports clubs and community groups are among those cashing in on grants ranging from £100 to the top award of £1,750.

The judging panel included the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen, Coun Mike Barrett; Sergeant Anne Scott, of Darwen Police; and representatives from Akzo Nobel and The Citizen. Akzo Nobel country co-ordinator Geoff Branton said: "The quality of entries was extremely high."

Award winners 2003:

Spring Vale Playgroup, Darwen, new toys, £150; St Mark's Church, Witton, storage cupboard for mums' and toddlers' group, £200; Nightsafe Woodvale Project, to buy decorating equipment, £300; St Oswald's Church, Blackburn, cash to refurbish the community church hall, £300 and up to 30 litres of paint; Darwen Central Community Association, purchase of a computer for the silver surfers, £750.

St Joseph's Cubs, Darwen, camping equipment, £100; 23rd New Methodist Church Rainbows, Darwen, craft materials, £100; St Andrew's Scout Group, Blackburn, funding for roof repairs to the meeting hall, £300; Darwen District Scout and Guide Band, the upkeep of instruments and uniforms, £100; 29th Blackburn Immanuel Guides, contribution towards a new storage hut, £300.

Retro Ball Association, material and equipment for several retro-ball areas, £150; Newrad Fisheries Club, angling coaching equipment, £300; Blackburn Red Rockets, introduction and promotion of basketball, £200. Blackburn Heats Volleyball Club, promotion of volleyball in schools through coaching, £200; Friends of Sunnyhurst Wood, for benches and furniture in the wood, £500; Darwen Morris Dancers, equipment, £150; Leyburn Road Allotments, new security gates, £100; Age Concern Blackburn with Darwen, glider chair, £325; St James Over Darwen Sunday school, junior praise books, £125; St John Ambulance, defibrillator, £1,750.

Carlton Morris Dancing Troupe, dresses, £200; Newrad Conservation and Wildlife, development of the group, £200; North East Lancashire Therapy Group, promotional literature, £100.