A CHARITY group has made its latest donations to causes in the North-East.

Cheques totalling £42,170 went to church, community, health and other support groups serving the Hartlepool area, by Christ's Hospital, Sherburn, near Durham.

The latest round of awards, the sixth in the two years since the reformation of the trust board, takes the total given to £850,000.

Chief officer Stephen Hallett said that the charity also donates £120,000-a-year for individuals in need, who are referred by agencies such as social services.

The grant presentation event was held at Hartlepool Historic Quay and Museum, with sums of between £720 and £12,300 handed to representatives of good causes and community groups in the town.

Founded in 1181 as a leper colony, Sherburn Hospital now provides residential care for the elderly, and sheltered accommodation.

Its board of trustees, made up of people from church, health, local authority and social welfare organisations also makes awards from the proceeds of its investments to help causes from the Scottish border to the River Tees, , the area covered by the medieval diocese of Durham.