A COMMUNITY trust set up to promote the regeneration of Pewsey is this week on the crest of a wave, with the launch of two of its projects.

The first was to provide a fleet of new kayaks for the use of young people in Pewsey, and the second is the creation of an Internet cafe, due to open in the village in the next few weeks.

Both have been made possible thanks to the area community trust PACT, which was set up two years ago to bring about community improvements in every possible direction including education.

Last week PACT chairman Coun Marilyn Day went along to the Pewsey swimming pool to see the kayaks in action.

Youth development co-ordinator Ivor Richards has encouraged young people to take up canoeing in the five years he has been at Pewsey, taking groups from The Shak youth club on canoe trips to France and Greece.

This summer Mr Richards will be leading a two-week white water trip on the River Lot in France, where they will be using the eight new kayaks bought by PACT.

Mr Richards said the Shak canoeing group was indebted to PACT. "Our kayaking programme is very strong at present and we have provided a wide range of opportunities for young and old in the community," he said.

"The new fleet of boats helps to extend the programme and ensure we provide safe and fun sessions for all."

PACT gave £2,500 towards the new kayaks and the same amount towards a white water simulator that Mr Richards hopes will be installed at the Pewsey pool before the end of the summer. The device will enable canoeists to drop down into the pool in a foaming cascade of water.

Mr Richards said: "We hope to be the first in the country to have one. We need £20,000 of which we can find £5,000 and I think we can get £5,000 out of the county council.

"We need to raise about another £10,000."

Mr Richards added that the simulator would be available for hire and he expected no shortage of demand from canoeists: "It will attract people from all over the region," he said.

Meanwhile, PACT is pressing ahead with its plans for an Internet caf to be called E-Pewsey.

It is arranging to lease the premises near the Co-op turning formerly used by System Smart, which has moved to a larger shop a couple of doors away.

It is one of ten pilot schemes being set up across Wiltshire including, Calne, Chippenham and Tidworth.

Contributions towards the set up cost of about £26,000 have been made by a variety of agencies including Kennet District Council, Wiltshire County Council, BT and the regional development agency. Over three years they will be contributing about £80,000 in total to the E-Pewsey scheme.

Coun Lee Grafton, a member of PACT and of the parish council, said the cyber caf will open as soon as planning consent has been granted for change of use to the former shop.

He said the centre would be equipped with four terminals with Broadband connection.

Like most cyber cafes refreshments will be available but Coun Grafton said: "We are not going into competition with the excellent tea rooms we have in the village already."

E-Pewsey will also double as the administrative offices for PACT and the person who runs it the funding is for one person four days a week will double as the PACT administrator.

At the moment PACT is run entirely by its members and, as Coun Day told the parish council recently, all the paperwork is done from their homes currently.

Coun Grafton said the Learning Skills Council and Business Link had expressed an interest in running IT courses at the centre. The Shak youth club had said it would like to use E-Pewsey to run homework courses.