Chippenham people are being urged to turn out tomorrow and take part in filming a video being made as part of the town’s bid to win a share in a £1million prize.

It was agreed at last week’s town centre forum that Chippen-ham will apply to become one of the Government’s Mary Portas pilot towns, and now people from the town are being asked to take part in a YouTube video as part of the application.

Filming for the five-minute piece will take place at the Neeld Hall tomorrow at 1pm, and anyone with ideas or who would like to take part is welcome to attend.

Melody Thompson, director of 24/7 Staffing in the town, is the chair of the group putting together the bid.

She said said: “I’ve never done anything like this before, but I felt compelled to be involved as a resident of Chippenham and as an independent business.

“We’re really seeing a strong community spirit.”

The deadline for the bid is March 30, with people from the town only deciding to put a bid forward on March 5.

“We need a real cross-section of society to come along and be part of this bid and the video too,” said Ms Thompson.

“However, we don’t want to be known as just a group for the Portas Pilot. This is bigger than that – we want to tackle problems in the town, and the Portas name carries a shelf-life. We’ve changed the campaign name, and it looks likely to be Cherish Chippenham, as we’re looking for something positive.”

Chief executive of Chippen-ham Town Council Sue Wilthew said some great ideas were coming out of the group meetings.

“We’ve had a real interest in it – more people are wanting to be a part of it all the time,” she said.

“If just the town council applied to be a Portas Pilot town, we wouldn’t stand a chance. This is for the people of Chippenham and we must work together.”

Some of the ideas currently being mooted include an online TV channel for Chippenham, and a storyboard outline for the YouTube film has already been put together by Ben Gregory of DigiPrint and Ed Deedigan of Kandu Arts, although anyone who wants to have their say on the film will be able to on Friday.

Mrs Wilthew said: “Regardless of how the application goes, this is a great start for improving Chippenham.”

For details or to help, call the town council on (01249) 446699.