THREE small charities dedicated to presenting awards or prizes to students at Leigh Municipal and Technical colleges look set to be wound down.

The William Collier Prize Fund was set up in 1946 to make annual awards to two students attending specific courses at Leigh Municipal College.

However, the Trust has been dormant since 1992, holding cash balances and shares in the Common Overseas Investment Fund of £2,204.

The Fred Bradshaw Memorial Prize Fund was set up in 1968 to provide an annual prize for night school students in commercial subjects at Leigh Technical College.

There is no provision to apply this charity's funds for anything other than the specific prize fund, so it will have to be wound down, holding cash and shares valued at more than £2,000.

Finally, the J D Speakman Prize Fund was set up in 1956 to provide annual prizes to two students attending part time at specific engineering courses at Leigh Technical College.

The fund, worth more than £3,600, has not received or paid out money since 1992.

All three charities have not had trustees for some time.

The Leigh Technical College has since been incorporated into Wigan and Leigh College, which has a charitable arm called the Wigan Foundation for Technical Education.

Councillors are now investigating the possibility of merging the three defunct charities into the Wigan foundation.