EAST Hampshire's three Citizens Advice Bureaus are celebrating this week following news of a National Lottery grant which will help them provide the standard of service local people have come to value and rely upon. After months of uncertainty over funding, the problem-solving charities have just heard that key posts, which support their volunteer advisers, are to be been funded for three years by the Big Lottery. It is a major coup for Alton CAB which has led the joint bid for funding to support specialist advice - an area of CAB work not covered by local authority grants. The £148,000 lottery grant will come from the Big Lottery Fund - a joint operating name for the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery Charities Board, which allocates grants via the Community Fund. To be allocated over three years, as the project leader Alton will receive £16k in the first year, £17k in the second and £18k in the third, with Bordon and Petersfield (which supports a part-time outreach bureau at Liphook) sharing the £97k between them. Alton CAB manager Teresa Jamieson said: "This is tremendous news. A joint bid, led by Alton CAB, was successful at the second attempt. The project will deliver continued specialist advice for clients and support for all the volunteers at all three CABs". Speaking on behalf of Bordon and Whitehill CAB, manager Diana Wilson explained: "With the shortage of legal advice for those clients on low incomes, our service has become vital to ensure access to justice. We were keen to ensure good training for our trainee advisers and this grant will help towards this aim." "Working together has huge benefits," added Petersfield CAB manager Kirsty Stratton. "We support each other and share resources and we want (to use this grant) to do more of this work. "Certain groups of clients, such as young people and families, have been hard hit with debt and lack of affordable legal advice. This project should help us build our capacity to meet their needs." All three of East Hampshire's CABs are keen to hear from anyone who would like to train as an adviser as part of this exciting project. l The news follows completion of a successful bid for funding from East Hampshire District Council which has guaranteed a substantial grant of £200,000 for the three CAB offices over three years. According to EHDC, more than 16,000 people a year rely on support and advice offered by the CAB network in East Hampshire and yet this invaluable service does not receive the backing of central government nor of any national organisation (the National Lottery being the exception). According to Teresa Jamieson, Alton CAB will receive £69,800 in this financial year, and the same amount (plus inflation) for the following two years. She said: "We are pleased to have negotiated a good grant entitlement which means we can plan three years ahead with some certainty, but we have still had to fund- raise elsewhere to make sure we can maintain our service at its current level. "We do need funding from more than EHDC. Alton Town Council is very good (this year's grant allocation is £11,000) but demand on the service is growing all the time and we need to raise more to just to stand still." Diana Wilson said: "All CABs have a great impact on our clients' lives but without EHDC's grant there wouldn't be a CAB in the area. In Whitehill and Bordon there's a huge debt problem, so every week we run a whole day devoted to it. There's no alternative help for people here." Similarly, Petersfield and District CAB would be homeless and unable to train its 30 volunteer advisors without its share of the grant, which covers 60 per cent of its annual running costs. Manager Kirsty Stratton said: "EHDC's commitment for three years' funding gives us the stability to operate and find the extra funding we need."