Falmouth Marine Band has celebrated another year of success with a record breaking hand-out of funds to a raft of local groups.

This year’s Falmouth Marching Carnival, organised and led by Falmouth Marine Band, resulted in another record collection to support local good causes. As a result, £3,000 has been distributed to 17 local groups, mainly to support young people, at a presentation event hosted by Falmouth Town Council.

Nearly 160 people filled the council chamber last week as band leader, Paul Wickes, presented the cheques, supported by Mayor Geoffrey Evans, town councillors, police inspector Steve Lenney and invited guests.

Paul dedicated the evening in memory of bandsman Bob Uren who died a number of weeks ago, and made special mention of the help given by everyone including the Lions Club, the local police, all the volunteer marshals, the Falmouth Week Committee, the Falmouth Watersports Centre, and Falmouth Rugby club for helping ensure the event’s success.

He added that every one of the 750 local people who marched, or the estimated 7,000 who watched the carnival, and all those who donated money to the collection buckets were the reason this event is now such a success and firmly established as a major part of Falmouth Week.

Nicky Sutton, fresh from having switched on Falmouth’s Xmas lights, received a cheque on behalf of the Friends of St Francis, a project she set up to help children at the school cope with the death through cancer of their friend Chloe Edwards.

The Friends have raised money to build a Pirate Ship playground in Chloe’s memory, and the donation from the Band will help towards finishing the project.

Sophia Coburn received the cheque on behalf of Invictus Trust, a charity started by Sophia and her father Steve, to help teenagers with mental health problems, following the suicide of her twin brother Ben.

Falmouth Waterfront Crew is a project created by Mel Bailey at Falmouth School and PCSO Sean McDonnell, to engage young people in community activity and provide them with a sense of responsibility. The Band is very fond of the project and has given money every year since it started.

The biggest cheque of the evening went to Falmouth School to support their new Garden Project.

The award was made in memory of a local young man, Mark Robinson, who was tragically killed in a road traffic accident earlier this year. Mark’s parents, June and Dave donated the funeral collection of £400 to the Marine Band charity account, to which the Band added a further £100 before it was agreed the garden project would be a wonderful way of using the money to benefit many young people for years to come.

Paul ended the evening by putting out a rallying call for next year, saying: “The next marching carnival will be the Falmouth Marine Band’s 25th Anniversary so let’s involve more of our family and friends and have a magnificent 1,000 people marching, and with the crowd we will draw, who knows whether we can once again have a record amount to distribute to local good causes.”

A record number of 17 cheques were donated to: The Salvation Army – £100 to support their youth group. Falmouth Tae Kwondo Club - £100 to purchase equipment. Falmouth & Penryn Children’s Centre - £100. Draceana Centre - £100. Kernow Youth Sailing - £150. The Friends of St Francis - £150 to the pirate playground in memory of Chloe Edwards. Invictus Trust - £200 to support teenagers with mental health issues. Blind at Sea - £200 to fund sailing trips for young people n Falmouth & Penryn Boxing Club - £100. Gyllingvase Surf Life Saving Club - £100.  Falmouth Rugby Club Mini’s - £150. Mission for Seafarers - £150. Cop Cars – a project by PCSO Ellie Gray to involve young people and police cadets in building and racing kit cars - £200. Falmouth Waterfront Crew organised by Mel Bailey and PCSO Sean McDonnell to undertake community work with rewards - £300. The biggest cheque of the evening was £500 to Falmouth School, represented by Jacqui Owen for the School’s Garden Project.