Corsham Area Board distributed what will be its final community grants before the May elections last week, at a meeting in Lacock Village Hall.

Area board chairman Alan Macrae proposed a £500 grant towards plans to grant five-times Paralympic medallist Stephanie Millward the freedom of Corsham. This was unanimously approved by the board, who praised her work coaching children with their swimming and her support of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

The freedom of Corsham will be presented to Miss Millward on March 2.

The Corsham Churches Food Bank also received £500 to increase its storage facilities at St Aldhelm’s Church. The board heard how requests to the charity rose from 14 to 35 last year.

A grant of £350 was awarded to the Corsham One Mile Running Club to provide rewards for young people meeting their sporting targets. The club, which is used by children aged six to 14, wants to buy medals, trophies and T-shirts to present to children.

As this was the final area board meeting before the new council is elected in May, it also had to decide what to do with its surplus grant money. This was donated to the community area transport group, to be used for community-related transport projects.

A summary of the board’s previous grants showed that in the past four years, £119,655 has been allocated to projects in and around Corsham, 40 per cent of which involved young people.