Chippenham Rugby Club is celebrating new opportunities to expand and develop in the town, thanks to a £31,000 grant from Sport England.

The funding will enable the club to set up training lights on its number two pitch, which will greatly extend its practising hours.

The money will also allow the club to start new sections, including a group for girls.

"It's absolutely fantastic," said Robbie Spiers, manager of the senior players. "We are really grateful for the grant and keen to get plenty of new members."

The grant is a result of a drive by the Government to boost grass roots sports and Sport England, in association with the Rugby Football Union, identified Chippenham as a potential candidate .

The club received an indication in March they were in line for an award but the announcement was only made public this week.

Work on the training lights began last week. The task has been complicated by the need to move the pitch to avoid overhead cables, but holes have been drilled into the ground to set up huge pegs on which the 18-metre lighting stands will be set.

"There is a high water table and a lot of bedrock which set back the work by a week," said Mr Spiers.

The work also involves laying cable to the club house and to the pitch.

The new lights will greatly enhance the club's training capability.

"Once the evenings get dark the training facilities here are fairly shocking," Mr Spiers said.

Although the Post Office had given the club a grant for mobile training lights, the illuminated space was still restricted and the available hours at the Sheldon Astroturf were limited.

"This will really improve our training and extend the training area," said Mr Spiers.

"We set up a ladies' section last year and this year we are starting a girls' section."

The club has three pitches and is building a fourth this year at a cost of around £2,000.

The club moved from a site in Birch Grove to Allington Field in the early 1990s and has to keep fund raising to support a mortgage it took out to make the move.

"It's a constant struggle to keep up with the funding, so we couldn't have possibly funded the training lights on our own," said Mr Spiers.

"Now we really need lots of new members, so if people want to join they should drop in at the club, take a look and pick up an application form."

Chippenham RFU has a long an distinguished history, having been established in 1898.

When a league was formed in the late 1980's Chippenham was originally in Division 2 but soon emerged as the leading club in North Wiltshire.

It was was one of the first clubs in the west country to create its own junior section.