MEMBERS of staff from a building society in Stroud have raised more than £3,500 to help a school for children with learning disabilities buy new laptops.

Employees from the Coventry Building Society branch in King Street have spent the last year fundraising for the Shrubberies School in Stonehouse.

Tara Perkins, community champion for the Stroud branch of the building society, came up with the idea to raise money for the school after spending time with the students as part of the building society’s paired reading scheme.

“Pupils, staff and parents would also come into the Stonehouse branch of the building society which is where I worked before moving to Stroud and decided it would be nice to raise some money for a local cause,” said Tara.

In the last year staff have managed to raise £3,519.85 for the school thanks to various cake sales, dress-down days and a sponsored skydive.

Six branch employees, including Tara and fellow community champion, Jemma Portlock, raised a huge £2,700 when they jumped 10,000 ft out of a plane in May last year.

“The children from the Shrubberies are an inspiration to us all so we are very excited to be raising money for them,” said Jemma.

During a cheque presentation this morning, Thursday, headteacher Jane Jones thanked Tara and the rest of the team for all of their hard work.

“We are so grateful and this money will really help us to improve our ICT resources with the purchase of brand new laptops and iPads,” said Mrs Jones.