THE Puriton Inn will once again be handing out more than £3,000 to village organisations thanks to the fundraising work the pub's regulars.

Following the fortnightly pub quiz on Wednesday, landlady Christell March will be handing over cheques to the local church, primary school, allotments association, flower show society, playing fields committee, the Guides, Rainbows and Brownies as well as Puriton Happy Tots, and the Sunshine Pre-School.

The money is the result of regular fundraising activities which regulars at the pub support throughout the year.

This will be the fifth time in just under twelve years that they have made similar donations, amounting to a total of around £15,000.

During the same period they also organised two sponsored bike rides which raised £2,000 for bibic and £2,000 for Burnham RNLI station respectively.

The funds raised by regulars at the pub come from the fortnightly pub quiz, Easter and Christmas raffles, weekly lottery bonus ball competition and some ad hoc events.

Pete Burke, a regular at the Puriton Inn who helps with the fundraising, said: "The background to all this activity goes back to the days when the Pilgrims Carnival Club was based at the pub.

"The club was founded in 1989 and all the events mentioned were fundraising activities for the carnival club. By the time Christell March took over as landlady at the pub in 2005 the carnival club was no longer in existence, but she suggested that the regulars might like to continue the fundraising for the benefit of village organisations.

"It was agreed that Christell would save the proceeds until a target of £3,000 was reached, at which point a number of organisations would be invited to apply for funding for specific projects or items of expenditure.

That target of £3,000 has been reached approximately every two years since.

"What we would love to see is a bit more support for our regular quiz nights so that we can raise more money more quickly to support all the good causes in the village."

The quizzes take place fortnightly on Wednesdays, starting at 8.30pm and the date of each quiz is posted on thepuritoninn.co.uk in the Events listing at the bottom of the home page.