A new drop-in and welfare centre has been opened near Hullavington for a culturally diverse Army regiment that has families from 19 different nationalities who are spread out in homes across an area covering over a 20-mile radius in north Wiltshire.

9 Supply Regiment, based at Buckley Barracks, has converted the old warden houses near Wellington Place into a safe and friendly place for Army wives and their children to meet.

The new centre, which was officially opened by Brigadier Steve Hodder, Commander 43 (Wessex) Brigade, will also double up as the Health Visitor’s centre and a baby clinic which will also be available for civilian families from Hullavington and Stanton-St Quinton.

Wellington Place is the most isolated ‘patch’ of married quarters for the Regiment with 93 houses occupied by Army families, 60 per cent of whom are Foreign and Commonwealth or Gurkha soldiers. Other families live in Wroughton, Lyneham, Chippenham and Hullavington.

The Regiment’s welfare office organises mini-buses to bring the wives together so they can meet for coffee and a chat.

“Forty per cent of the Regiment is not British,” said the welfare officer Captain Dean Hammett.

“The largest group is Gurkhas, then Ghanaians, Fijians and Jamaicans. This is why the Drop-In Centre is here.

"They can become very isolated as individuals or cultural groups, so hopefully the centre will break down the barriers by providing somewhere for everyone to meet up.”

The centre provides a big playroom with comfortable chairs, a safe garden, a computer room with games consoles and wi-fi for the older children and for wives to e-mail their husbands when they are deployed, and offices for the welfare officer and health visitor. A multi-surface play area has been built nearby and is already a great success with both Army and local children.

Caroline Black, whose husband serves in the Regiment, thinks the facility is just what is needed. “Army wives move around so much it is important to meet people quickly,” she said. “Especially if you have small children, you don’t drive and your husband is away, you need somewhere you can go for adult conversation."