A MAJOR appeal has been launched to help banish fuel debt.

Project Wenceslas, which is run by Farnham Lions in conjunction with the Herald, calls for pensioners for whom the Government's Winter Fuel Payments are non-essential to donate their payments to charity.

Such a gesture will help people struggling to pay their fuel bills and keep warm this winter.

Winter Fuel Payments of between £100 and £300 are paid automatically to people aged over 60 each November. But without means testing, the payments are equal for people on low and high incomes.

The Lions campaign aims to address this imbalance by appealing for older people living comfortably to help those identified by the Farnham Assist and Farnham CAB charities as living in "fuel poverty" and "fuel debt".

For full story, see this week's Farnham Herald.