A WHEELCHAIR basketball team needs help to secure £25,000 in funding.

Head coach Emily Scrivener, of Sible Hedingham, said the all-female Eastern Blue Stars has been shortlisted for the national Britain Has Spirit campaign for Community Initiative of the Year.

It is one of three shortlisted in the Anglia region, and if they receive enough votes to get through to the next round, they will be in with a chance of winning £25,000 of funding.

Emily said: "We don’t receive any regular funding, and rely on our own fundraising efforts to make enough money to continue operating as a community sports club.

"The £25,000 prize money would go so far in helping us provide purpose-built wheelchairs for our members, as well as allowing us to showcase our sport in more areas across the region to help us attract new players and involve more women and girls in disabled sport in East Anglia so they can start enjoying the benefits now - fitness, confidence and team-working to name just a few."

The club is preparing for its annual open fundraising event, to be held on June 18 at Cambridge University Sports Centre.

The winning team will then take on the Eastern Blue Stars current squad for the final match of the session.

For more information and to register, call 07793 652331 or email elscrivener@riseup.net The club, the only all-female wheelchair basketball club in East Anglia, is open to everyone who can't play regular basketball - you don't have to be a permanent wheelchair user.

To vote for the Blue Stars, visit: britainhasspirit.com The group will have a website going live in September easternbluestars.co.uk or search Facebook for Eastern Blue Stars.