The Gazette & Herald is offering grants to local community groups to help them celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June.

The Gazette’s community fund, set up in 2000 to support good causes in our circulation area, is setting aside money for help local people organise special events for the jubilee.

The fund, managed by the Community Foundation for Wiltshire and Swindon, is inviting applications for grants up to £250 from groups created to organise events to bring local communities together to mark 60 years of the Queen’s reign.

Groups may be in the throes of organising street parties, but they may also want to mark the jubilee in a more permanent way, by planting a tree or installing a piece of public art created by local people.

Gazette editor Gary Lawrence said: "When the Queen came to the throne, Britain was in the midst of economic problems, yet people still managed to have a good time to celebrate the event.

"Sixty years later the wheel has come full circle and we are again experiencing a downturn in our fortunes. But the British people will still turn out in force to wish Her Majesty good wishes on this major landmark of her reign. We want to be able to help them do this."

Application forms are available from the Community Foundation or by downloading them from the Gazette’s website www.gazetteandherald.co.uk They should be returned to The Gazette & Herald Fund, c/o The Community Foundation for Wiltshire & Swindon, 48 New Park Street, Devizes SN10 1DS by Friday, April 7.

To be eligible for a grant, your letter will also need to demonstrate that you have an organising committee, a separate bank account and that all the relevant permissions required to hold your event have been obtained or applied for.