Five local causes are getting an early Christmas present in the shape of lottery funding.

The Association of Jersey Charities has approved grants totalling £170,000. They are being shared between:

• Every Child Our Future - £30,000 - £22,000 on the part-time salary of its existing Volunteer Programme Manager and £8,000 to match fund salary of a new post of CommunityVolunteer and Administrative Assistant (£8,000)
• Jersey Recovery College - £23,470 - To fund its Clinical and Wellbeing lead salary.
• Jersey Alzheimer's Association - £30,000 - To go towards its Operation co-ordinator's salary.
• Jersey Cheshire Home - £21,600 - To fund clinical staff training.
• Les Amis - £10,000 - To re-design its website.

Two other awards worth a combined £55,495 will also be donated if certain conditions are met.

The AOJC, who has just received £1 million from last year's Channel Islands lottery profits as agreed by the States Assembly last month, says it's been maintaining a limited grants programme through the year in anticipation that it would receive at least some of the profits.

Economic Development Minister Senator Lyndon Farnham originally put forward plans to give a UK grants charity the power to provide the funds, but changed his mind and said giving the cash to the AJC is a better interim decision while a new long-term plan is finalised.

£312,000 from those profits were delivered in the last nine months, with £810,000 given out altogether.

It'll consider applications for the remaining £688,000 from last years lottery draw next March.