WAITROSE in Farnham has celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Community Matters green token scheme with a tea party for many of the charities it has supported over the past decade.

Since launching in 2008, the supermarket has dished out £120,000 to good causes in the Farnham area, adding to the £30m raised by the Community Matters scheme nationally.

Each month Waitrose donates £1,000 split between three local good causes, with customers given the final say on how this money is shared by voting for their favourite by placing a token in one of three boxes. The more tokens a cause gets, the bigger the donation they receive.

Waitrose in The Hart invited many of its beneficiaries, as well as Farnham mayor David Attfield, to celebrate the scheme’s milestone with an afternoon tea.

Among those present were representatives of Farnham Foodbank, Waitrose’s surplus food share partners including the Brightwells Gostrey Centre, Woodlarks Centre, Hale Children’s Centre and the Girl Guiding Association, the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre, Farnham Lions and FATN Talking News, as well as Farnham Town Council and Farnham In Bloom volunteers.

A former Waitrose employee turned professional cake maker Ellie Lyver generously baked a cake for the occasion.

And after the party, Waitrose’s Community Matters champion Alice Butcher and deputy Abi McManus hit the shop floor to hand out Prosecco and slices of cake to customers.