A charity which has traditionally given help to older people, has now decided to offer some aid to young people in the Horley and Salfords area.

The Henry Smith Charity has announced it recently decided to offer help to young people who are entering training through college, university, apprenticeships or vocational training, from the funding administered in Horley.

The cause stated the funding is available to young people who live in the parishes of Horley and Salfords, and will be available in September. It stated gifts will not be large - probably £50 to £100 per applicant until the money runs out - but it added even these sums may be helpful to some school leavers.

The gifts are intended to help with the purchase of books, tools and equipment.

Applications should be made in writing to Henry Smith Charity, 55 Fairfield Avenue, Horley, Surrey, RH6 7PB.

Applications should set out the training in which the young person is about to embark and what the money will be spent on.

The cause stated that it is not required that personal or financial circumstances are revealed, but added that should applicants wish to include such detail, it may help the Trustees with decisions should there be too many applicants.

The Henry Smith Charity makes grants for work throughout the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Applications can be made for revenue funding, such as for projects and core costs, and capital expenditure, such as for buildings and equipment.

The Henry Smith Charity has been helping people in the face of disadvantage and poverty since 1628.

Henry Smith, after whom the charity is named, was born in 1548 in South London, was a salt merchant and a successful businessman who acquired land in various parts of the country, and created a number of charitable trusts for the relief of the poor.