A NEW programme manager has been appointed to lead a team that supports thousands of Wiltshire families every year.

Ian Tomlinson will head the Wiltshire Children's Fund for the next 18 months. The fund is administered by charity Barnardo's South West, based in Trowbridge. In 2005/6, it spent more than £740,000 on projects that helped more than 3,700 children and young people. Projects include holiday activities, lunchtime clubs, homework clubs, counselling and parenting support.

Mr Tomlinson is a social worker with 20 years of experience working with socially excluded groups, and has also acted as a consultant to the Home Office on drugs misuse and learning disabilities.

He said: "I was drawn to working with Barnardo's because I felt that our values were very similar and I was particularly interested in the fund's focus on prevention and participation. I have already met the team and many of the managers and workers from the services we fund, and I have been really impressed by everything that I have seen so far."