VILLAGERS from two communities came together over the weekend to celebrate the achievements of a local action group who secured £3,000 for equipment to protect the areas from flooding.

The Shaw and Whitley Community Action Group was awarded the funding by Scottish and Southern Energy and it will be put towards buying much-needed equipment such as torches, walkie-talkies and emergency bedding for villagers.

Group chairman Michelle Tattersall said around 100 people attended the celebratory event, which for both villages, she believes was a great turnout.

“Everyone seemed to be happy at the fact that the event was an opportunity to get both villages together and people kept coming up to me saying how good the day was,” she added.

“Originally when we applied for the funding we thought we could put together a really good application to show how the money would benefit the community and luckily we received the full amount of £3,000.

“I think it showed that they could see what happened to us last September with the flooding and how in both villages to have some equipment available to prevent it happening in the future was important to us.

“We wanted to provide villagers with the equipment that will help them in a pretty traumatic situation because the flooding last time was very sudden.”

Also on the day, the group also showcased other ongoing projects in both villages like the arrival of new playground apparatus for children based on the feedback gathered by residents.

Mrs Tattersall said: “Originally Mark Ashkowski and I volunteered as resident representatives and we have had many consultations with around 300 adults about what equipment they would like to see in the area and what the children would like to see.”

Out of their responses, the most popular choices were a spinner and a wooden tractor which, with additional support from Melksham Without Parish Council, will soon be a new feature at the playground.

Mrs Tattersall added: “The day was really supported by the people in both communities and we are glad that people had the chance to come together to celebrate.”