A COMMEMORATIVE book about the First World War in Worton and Marston is one of a number of local projects to have been awarded funding by Devizes Area Board.

The board agreed to give £150 to the project to help produce an 80-page booklet giving an account of the men from Worton and Marston who lost their lives in the First World War.

Robin Shercliff told the area board meeting last Thursday : “The booklet will be distributed by me to all the 324 houses in the two villages in the week before August 4, the 100th anniversary of the war.”

Worton Parish Council has contributed £350 to the booklet and Marston Parish Council has given £250. The area board also agreed to ring-fence funding of £1,600 for commemorative projects about the First World War. Groups can bid for funding, with the maximum award being £200.

Other grants included: Devizes Canoe Club, £5,000; First Stages youth musical drama group, £614.07; and Great Cheverell Pavilion Trust, £1,800.

The canoe club’s grant will be used towards a shower and changing block at its proposed new base at Lower Wharf, Devizes. The club plans to change the use of a depot used by Wiltshire Council parking enforcement staff. The club already has £55,000 from Sport England towards the shower block and the whole scheme will cost about £175,000.

But residents living by Lower Wharf have raised concerns about access and councillor Sue Evans urged the club to discuss it with the residents.

First Stages will use the grant to buy additional lighting and some radios.

Carole Berry, founder of First Stages, said: “It lifts the performance level for the children if they see we have professional equipment.”

The Great Cheverell Pavilion Trust will use the grant towards buying film equipment and lighting to provide a community cinema.