Community initiatives in the Devizes area received financial help at last week’s meeting of the Devizes Area Board.

The board, one of 30 set up at the same time as the Wiltshire Council unitary authority in April of last year, has a limited amount of funding to hand out to worthwhile projects in the area.

It received an application for £919 from the All Cannings Community Store Association for what was described as the improvement of the marketing environment at the shop in the car park of the village hall.

Tim Moore, a member of the shop’s management committee, said: “We want to make the customer side of the counter look more like a proper store.”

The shop is one of several community shops in the Devizes area that operates on a largely volunteer basis after the villages’ own groceries closed down.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the grant.

They were also unanimous in voting £750 to support a Party in the Park in Hillworth Park, organised by police volunteers as part of the Devizes Carnival programme.

The money will be spent on hiring a marquee, music, a climbing wall and a mobile skate park for the event.

As reported in last week’s Gazette, the board also approved a £5,000 grant as part of a £13,200 rescue package for the town’s CCTV system.

But it turned down a request from the Wiltshire Malayalee Association for £1,000 to help develop a Chenda Malam group, a form of Indian dance, as the applicants could not demonstrate any benefit to the Devizes community area.