SOMERSET shopping destination Clarks Village has announced Somerset Rural Youth Project as its official charity partner for 2016.

Somerset Rural Youth Project challenges the isolation of living in rural areas and helps young people to access training and employment.

Steve Burge, marketing manager at Clarks Village, in Street, said: “Somerset Rural Youth Project delivers admirable work for young people in the region, helping to develop and encourage them through a range of positive and diverse activities and programmes.

"We are pleased to be working with Somerset Rural Youth Project throughout 2016 and we look forward to helping raise the profile of the charity, as well as being involved with fundraising."

Sarah Baggaley, funding and marketing officer at Somerset Rural Youth Project, said: “Our aim for 2016 is to widen our reach and ensure that every eligible young person in Somerset is aware of, and has an equal opportunity to take part in, the projects that we can offer them.

"We are excited about the ways in which our partnership with Clarks Village can help us to achieve this."

Somerset Rural Youth Project was established in 1997 and works in over 150 communities across Somerset and with more than 2,500 young people per year.