Three village cricket clubs have received grants of £5,000 each from Devizes Area Board to improve their facilities.

Potterne will use the money as part of a £10,498 project that will see a new score box being built, more storage space for junior equipment and electronic security gates installed after the club was burgled in the summer.

Currently the scorers share a pavilion with spectators and players, and often people are asked to leave the pavilion to allow the scorers space to do their job.

Graham Gaiger of the club told a meeting of Devizes Area Board on November 25 that it had more than 200 members and it had outgrown its facilities.

Bishops Cannings, which has more than 250 members including 160 juniors, will use its grant towards extending two of its nets to full length and replacing the caging around the nets.

Club chairman Ed Davies said: “These improvements will allow the club to coach more young people at the same time and allow the club to grow further.”

He said Viridor was providing a landfill tax grant for the remaining £15,000 of the project.

Urchfont will use the grant towards refurbishing its pavilion, by replacing windows and the roof, providing extra storage and improving shower and toilet facilities. Ever since Urchfont Manor was sold, the cricket ground has also hosted Urchfont Croquet Club.

The project costs £13,900 and the club has raised the remainder through reserves, grants, fundraising and contributions from the parish council. It aims to increase membership by 25 per cent over the next five years.

The Area Board also gave grants of £1,430 to Urchfont Village Hall, £5,000 to The Trinity Primary School, Quakers Road, Devizes, and £1,000 to Wiltshire Farmers’ Markets.

The village hall grant will be used to improve computer facilities and to buy a projector, screen and broadband, while The Trinity School will use the money towards the creation of a trim trail. The farmers’ markets will be repairing six damaged stalls at Devizes Farmers’ Market.