Charities in the City of Wolverhampton have shared £20,691 courtesy of former Mayor Cllr Barry Findlay.

Cllr Findlay was the city’s first citizen during 2016/2017 and throughout his time in office he and his wife Margaret, the Mayoress, raised money for four good causes.

His chosen charities were Wolverhampton Samaritans, The MS Therapy Centre, Help for Heroes and the Wolverhampton United Ex Service Council.

Over the year, Cllr Findlay and Margaret organised a variety of fundraising activities including an online auction, quizzes, concerts and coffee mornings.

They presented the charities with their cheques at a ceremony last week.

Cllr Findlay said: “It is a dilemma for any Mayor to select the charities they will raise money for during their year of office. There are so many deserving causes out there and we would want to help them all if we could.

“However, the charities I did choose do superb work for our communities and Margaret and I were proud and delighted to fundraise for them.

“I would like to personally thank everyone who donated or attended one of our events. These contributions have now been passed over to the charities and will be used to help people.”

Vernon Dodd, from Wolverhampton Samaritans, said: “We were absolutely delighted that Cllr Findlay nominated us as one of his charities. We take around 2,000 calls a month, day and night, from people in Wolverhampton and all our work is done by volunteers.

“We have to raise 100% of our running costs ourselves, so this help is much appreciated.”

Paul Nicholls, from Wolverhampton United Ex Service Council, said: “It’s a great honour to be nominated as a chosen charity. We will use the money to pay for a new flag known as a standard. We can now go out and people will recognise Wolverhampton Ex Service Council and it will bring us closer together.”

The MS Therapy Centre will use the money to enable it to continue offering various treatments such as oxygen, reflexology, aromatherapy and physiotherapy to people suffering with MS. Help for Heroes, will use the money to look after wounded, injured and sick service personnel.