The group, which is part of St Ives-based West Anglia Crossroads Caring for Carers charity, has been selected by the Big Lottery Fund to take part in their ITV give-away The People's Millions.

Pitching against another charity in the fight for an £80,000 grant, the young carers are reliant on the public vote to win the money.

The programme goes out on Thursday, November 29, when supporters will have from 9am that day until midnight to vote for the worthwhile project – the charity with the most votes receives the one-off grant.

Young Carers' project manager Lucy Francklin said: "It's only a year's money and it's only about half of what we need. It's great that we got this far and it's really proof of how worthwhile the charity is.

"We do lots of applications and this is one of the opportunities which came up. I saw it and thought let's give it a go.

"We are against an older people's charity and it is about having local voters support us.

"This is really important to us and it will be brilliant if we get it," she said.

The charity only discovered it was up for the award, spookily, on Halloween (October 31) but Mrs Francklin made it clear the money received from the People's Millions is separate from the Town Crier's appeal, which was launched last month in a bid to raise £10,000 for the charity.

The big lottery grant, if received, will be going towards the running of support groups and administration costs, whereas the group is hoping to use the funds raised by the Town Crier for respite activities for the children.

Mrs Francklin added: "The We Care money will be going on the more fun activities, the things all the young carers can enjoy to give them a break.

"We are really pleased with how the We Care appeal is going. It is great to be supported and to see a community at work. People are responding wonderfully."

The cash is rolling in to the Town Crier's We Care appeal, but it still needs your help to reach the £10,000 target.