A CLUB for young people who want to learn to speak French has received a grant to support its work.

Councillor Morris Bright (Conservative, Borehamwood South) contributed £2,000 from his county council locality budget to the Borehamwood and Elstree Twin Town Association (BETTA) to support the work of Club Escargot, which offers weekly French lessons to six to 12-year-olds in Borehamwood.

The money will help to pay for teachers’ salaries, stationery and outings for the members.

A total of £10,000 is available to each of the 77 members of Hertfordshire County Council to spend on worthwhile community projects in their area.

BETTA launched the club a year ago to offer people the chance to learn French and now has 18 young people attending the club each week.

Cllr Bright said: “Setting up this club for youngsters who want to learn French is a great way of introducing them to the culture of another country and hopefully encouraging them to visit it to try out their language skills.

"The club is keen to encourage more young people to join, and would like to be able to subsidise the cost of the sessions to ensure that everybody has the opportunity to take part.”

For information on how to apply for funding under the scheme, visit www.hertsdirect.org and type locality budgets into the search box.