PEOPLE in Pewsey, still sore at the village losing its only building society branch two years ago, are continuing to take their fight to the top.

The Portman Building Society closed its office in the Market Place in August 2002 claiming it was no longer economic to run.

Villagers who are investors in the society and relied upon it as their bank claimed they were not consulted about the closure and that it was a fait accompli by the time they learned it was about to happen. One of the leading protestors was interior designer Caroline Dalrymple.

Mrs Dalrymple and a small committee organised protest marches through the village, banner-waving demonstrations outside the Portman branch and waged a media and TV campaign to the embarrassment of the Portman, the country's fourth biggest building society.

A coach load of Pewsey investors went to the Portman annual general meeting in Bournemouth last year but were not allowed to speak.

This year the AGM is being held in Brighton next Monday and Mrs Dalrymple is urging investors with voting rights to vote against the re-election of Robert Sharpe as chief executive.

Mrs Dalrymple said people who had relied upon the Portman in Pewsey for their banking were still upset at the way the closure had been handled.

She said: "There is no point in going to the AGM again. You go but no way is it easy for people to stand up and have their say because you are ruled out of order.

"So I am encouraging people to vote against the re-election of Robert Sharpe as the chief executive because ultimately he was the one who agreed the Pewsey branch should close."

The closure of the Portman left Pewsey with just one bank, Lloyds.

The parish council has tried in vain to persuade another building society to open a branch in Pewsey.