Patients of Te Anau's Fiordland Medical Practice will benefit from more timely and convenient x-ray services thanks to a grant from the Meridian Te Anau-Manapouri Community fund late last year.

The $10,260 grant allows the practice to purchase ancillary equipment for a digital cassette reader already funded by the Ministry of Health, which will enable the digital transfer of x-ray images to Southland hospital, rather than the patients themselves having to travel to the hospital for radiology services.

The grant was among a number made to community organisations in November last year, the last funding round of the original $500,000 to be allocated over three years.

Other funding included:

A grant of $14,573 to assist the Pomona Island Restoration Project with translocation of mohua (yellowheads) to Pomona and Rona Islands.

A grant of $5,318 to assist with replacing the floodlights at the Te Anau Rugby Club.

$10,450 to enable the Friends of the Library (Te Anau) to establish a Fiordland Reference Section for the Te Anau Library.

Community fund chair Alan Seay says the projects supported by the fund in its latest round of allocations will deliver lasting benefits to the Te Anau-Manapouri communities, in keeping with the objectives of the fund.

``It has been a hugely satisfying experience over the past three years to have had the opportunity to lend a hand to a wide range of very worthy local causes and bring some much-needed local projects to fruition.

``These have ranged from toy libraries, playground equipment, and educational and medical initiatives, and they may not otherwise have happened without support from the fund.''

Meridian has decided to continue the fund for another three years and extend the area covered into the Tuatapere and Cliffden communities.

Applications for consideration in the first funding round of 2010 close on 17 February. For more information, and an application form, visit www.meridian.co.nz or phone 03 3579732.