THE lives of members of seven community groups in the Gazette and Herald circulation area have been made easier with grants from the Community 2000 Fund.

The fund, which was set up before the Millennium with donations from readers and local businesses, is administered by the Wiltshire and Swindon Community Foundation, which has selected seven good causes to share in the £1,000 available this year.

All Cannings Pre-school is to receive £230 to buy two room dividers that will make its space in the village hall more flexible and give the organisers more space to hang up the artwork of the young members.

Group chairman Sophie Leary said: "Having the room dividers will enable us to create a quiet area where children can read or get down to some other kind of quiet activity away from the hurly-burly of the rest of the group. They will also act as display boards for artwork and photographs of the pre-school's activities."

Another children's group in the Devizes area to benefit from the fund this year is Poulshot Parent and Toddler Group, which is to receive £100 for a unit to store outside toys.

All the group's outdoor trikes, tractors and push cars are kept in a small cupboard in Poulshot village hall, where the group meets, which Caroline Warren, who runs it with Emma Kaashoek, calls Pandora's Box.

She said: "You have to be very careful how you pack the toys away to get everything into such a small space. We have a lovely play area outside the hall and if we had a proper storage unit to keep them in, we could have a lot more toys for the children to play with."

In Chippenham, Tickle Tots Mother and Toddler Group was delighted to hear it was being given £75 to buy a wooden train set.

The group was set up in November 2000 and keeps itself as accessible to as many mums as possible by charging just £1 a session a family, irrespective of how many children go along.

Spokeswoman Deborah Wiltshire said: "As a result, we haven't much money to spend on toys and rely on mums donating things their children might have grown out of. The wooden train set would be much in demand with our children and is not the kind of thing people give away."

The purchase of two portable gas heaters will help Wootton Bassett Sea Cadets from shivering in their hut at Jubilee Lake. They get £150 to buy the two heaters.

Tamara Wostenholm, chairman of the corps' parents and supporters group, said: "It does get very cold in the hut at this time of the year and the heaters will make all the difference."

Though land-locked, the Sea Cadets have a close affiliation with Royal Navy warship HMS Turbulence and they also have the chance to sail aboard the square-rigged sailing ship Royalist.

One of the newest youth groups in the county, the 1st Cherhill Scouts, get £150 towards the cost of buying heavy-duty cooking equipment for when they go to summer camp.

The group will have been running for two years next March and Tony German will be sworn in as its first warranted leader next Friday.

He explained that the money from the Community 2000 Fund would go towards the purchase of pots, pans and other utensils which would be used by the parents to cook for the Scouts when they go off on weekend camp and might also stretch to providing new gas burners.

There are 14 Scouts, 24 Cubs and 11 Beavers in the group.

The 1st Chippenham Guides celebrate 41 years in operation next month and they warmly welcome the £150 they will be getting towards the cost of a new shed in which they will be keeping their camping equipment.

The 35 girls went to Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham, this summer and enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

Helen Yandell for the group said: "Our current shed is virtually rotten and we have a lot of camping equipment, including some heavy tentage. The new shed is absolutely essential."

Finally, members of the Lunch Club for the Elderly that meets at the Mill Race Centre in Calne will be assured a very merry Christmas after the Community 2000 Fund gave them a grant of £154 towards the cost of their Christmas lunch this year.