IN PICTURES & VIDEO: Cash For Your Community 2015 Awards presentation

Ursula Wastall, co-leader of Small Wonders Stay and Play Group, in Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton, spoke of her joy after the group picked up more than £4,000 at this year's Cash For Your Community competition.

The cash give-away, run by the Express & Star and HomeServe saw £35,000 given out to 103 groups this year. The money was shared between the organisation, with the groups collecting the most tokens taking away the highest proportion.

The winning group, Small Wonders Stay and Play Group, picked up £4,067. In second was Sandwell Flyers, which got £3,593, while third placed Willenhall Trinity Bowls received £1,568. The top 20 groups were invited to an awards ceremony at The Savoy Lounge at Walsall FC's Banks' Stadium this week.

From sports clubs to illness support charities, the competition was designed to help those groups working tirelessly for the community while on a shoestring budget.

Small Wonders Stay and Play Group, run by the Lifespring Church in Chapel Ash, collected more than 30,000 tokens.

The group, which finished third last year and used the money to help build a sensory play room, will use their prize money this year to purchase new equipment to help care for the 180 children who come along each week.

Ms Wastall said: "We finished third last year so we were really surprised to have done even better this time, especially when you consider there was more competition. We genuinely didn't expect to win, so we are all delighted.

"Our group is all about excellence and positivity, we like to think we help improve our community by helping adults to become better parents, as well as providing some fun and care for young children."

Last year's winners, the Willenhall Trinity Bowls Club, were near the top of the pile once again, finishing third with a mammoth 11,954 tokens.

The winnings will go towards ground improvements such as flood lighting.

Club secretary Norman Kempson said: "We are constantly trying to improve the club, not just as a bowls club but also as a community group.

"Each year we seem to be increasing in popularity, which is obviously great news but it means the need for funds to pay for improvements is always there.

"Because we took part last year, we knew what we had to do this time around, obviously this time there was more of a rush to be involved but we are delighted with our standing and the money will be a huge boost for us over the coming year."

Sandwell Flyers handed over 28,040 tokens to finish in the top three, with the money set to go towards funding coaches for their gymnastics group. #Alice Rodgers, group representative, said: "We are very lucky to have such a strong support group and a lot of effort was put in by everybody at the club to make sure we capitalised on that.

"Everyone who brings their child along really appreciates what we do so it was wonderful to work together for the benefit of all of us.

"The group is growing all the time and so is the demand for coaches, so we will use this money to help bring in some top quality instructors.

"We didn't enter last year so we are absolutely blown away to have come in the top three."

The top 20 winners gathered at stadium's Savoy Lounge for the cheque presentation ceremony, where although no-one in the room knew exactly how much they would be getting before the announcements were made. Speaking after the presentation, HomeServe chief executive Martin Bennett said: "Each and every group clearly work incredibly hard to provide an invaluable service to their community.

"Those who made the top 20 should be particularly proud of themselves.

"It is great to be able to directly help them, not only by giving them money, but also recognition.

"For me, it is a great feeling to see the smile on peoples faces as they collect their cheque and also to speak to them on a personal level about what they do.

"The ceremony itself was brilliant because you could really feel the excitement building in the room as the winners were announced.

An original list of 302 applicants had to be whittled down to 150 before members of the public were asked to collect tokens on behalf of their favoured group.

Wolverhampton based charity Compton Hospice used its various charity shops to encourage people to support them as they achieved a fifth place finish in their first Cash For Your Community push.

Head of communications Grace Ruskin said: "We would like to thank everybody who helped us along the way, so many people have supported the hospice over so many years and this is just the latest example of that.

"The money will go towards the continued running costs of providing our service."

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Theatre Company, which began life three years ago, called on all of its community resources to achieve a fourth place finish.

The money received will go towards production costs ahead of their five night run of The King and I at the Mill Theatre in Sedgley, which starts in February.

Chairman Richard Bourne said: "For a group that hasn't been going that long I think we did extremely well.

"The money will go a long way towards helping us provide the best costumes and equipment for our stars ahead of February's shows." During the presentation event, Express & Star circulation manager Martin White took a moment during the ceremony to explain the reason for starting the Cash For Your Community project.

He said: "We really wanted to try and make a difference.

"I think we have achieved that and hopefully we can do the same next year."

Express & Star editor Keith Harrison said: "This was a fantastic event with so many worthy causes involved.

"The beauty of cash for Your Community's big day is that everyone's a winner - no-one walks away empty-handed.

"Having said that, some of the totals for tokens collected were staggering.

"People have really put an effort in and it's great to see so many worthy causes being rewarded.

"Particular thanks to HomeServe who once again have demonstrated their commitment to the local community."