A Trowbridge school and a Warminster cook were among the winners at the Health and Wellbeing Awards held in Devizes.

Staff and pupils at the John of Gaunt in Trowbridge were thrilled after winning the award, presented at the Corn Exchange last Wednesday, in recognition of their school drop-in-centre, The Link.

The Link, held in The Hub within the Wingfield Road school’s grounds, gives pupils the chance to drop by and discuss worries, issues and ask health questions.

The initiative is described as a ‘multi-agency’ health and wellbeing drop in centre, because students get the chance to chat to local police community support officers, counsellors, a community health nurse and organisations such as Connexions, which gives career guidance.

Helen Kerr, assistant headteacher at John of Gaunt, said: “It’s about students knowing that it’s there and it really does increase their feeling of safety, knowing they have something like this in school.

“The idea is that we want to make it as accessible as possible and as easy as possible for our students to succeed in their lives.”

Mrs/Miss Kerr and headteacher Andy Packer attended the ceremony to pick up the award, and were shocked to learn they had won.

“We were so excited yesterday, we hadn’t expected anything and we were the only school there among some really inspirational people,” Mrs/Miss Kerr said.

Other winners included Catherine Maxwell, from Warminster, for promoting healthy eating through her Anybody Can Cook! workshops and the Stop Smoking Clinic, a walk-in service organised by NHS Wiltshire at the former Westbury Hospital.

Competition was tight on the night with Wiltshire Council receiving more than 200 nominations for 60 projects, twice the number received for the 2009 awards.

Guest speakers at the event included Brian Moore, chief constable of Wiltshire Police and Matthew Kershaw, chief executive of Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.