A growing furniture bank scheme which judges hailed as succeeding at every level has scooped the top prize in the 2008 Griffin Awards.

The community cash scheme bankrolled by Vauxhall Motors handed the £10,000 jackpot to the Biggleswade-based Preen Community Interest Company.

Kathy Lewis, organiser of Furniture Bank, said: "We are absolutely thrilled, the whole team is chuffed to bits.

"It has been a hard slog getting this going with no funding at all so to get this award in our first year is more than we could have hoped for."

The project - based on the town's Shortmead Industrial Estate on Sun Street - has already seen demand for its services soar and is looking to expand to other towns in Bedfordshire and beyond.

The Preen team take in unwanted furniture from donations and other sources and then put it to good use - either by selling it on to give it a fresh lease of life and raise vital revenue, passing it on at discount rates to families in need, or by breaking it up into its constituent parts and recycling as much as possible.

Other big winners on the night were Luton's Icknield Primary School which will have the use of a Vauxhall vehicle for 11 months, and
Leighton Buzzard Mencap which scooped a £5,000 award to help fund a summer playscheme project.

Two sixth-formers from Dunstable's Queensbury School shared the award for Bedfordshire Young Volunteer of the Year after judges found it impossible to separate them.

Chris McLoughlin and Nick Moss were nominated for the award by Dennis Bird, chairman of the Luton and Dunstable Handicapped Persons' Typing Club.

You can find out more about the awards scheme and see video clips detailing the work of this year's finalists at www.griffinawards.org