Warminster Town Councillors have voted to give the Athenaeum Centre for the Community a £60,000 grant. 

The money from the grant will come from the Dewey Trust and will be made over two payments. £30,000 now and £30,000 in the next financial year.

The money will be match funded by others to cover the cost of a £120,000 project to integrate the Athenaeum with the Close Centre Building.

The Close had been owned by Wiltshire Council but was recently transferred to the Athenaeum Trust.

A post on the Warminster Town Council reads: "Amalgamation of the two buildings will require urgent works to the external fabric of the Close Centre and upgrades to its utilities and services. The funding will also go towards providing more and better dressing rooms."

Councillors were keen to stress that because the money for the grant came from the Dewey Trust, it would not impact on the council tax paid by residents.

The Dewey Trust derives from the will of Mr Harold Dewey, a famous Warminster Resident, well known as a local Councillor, school teacher and headmaster. He died in 1971 and left a legacy to the then Urban District Council, which has since been transferred to the Town Council.