AN Okehampton charity concerned with bringing communities together through music has won a £97,000 grant from the National Lottery.

The grant will pay for a community development worker for folk arts project the Wren Trust and help to co-ordinate the work of the charity which was established 12 years ago.

Founder member Marilyn Tucker said she was 'very excited' by this award.

'This money will strengthen the work we do,' she said. 'Very often groups feel let down because we cannot continue working with them through lack of funds.

'Arts funding is so limited so this lottery grant will enable us to keep the pot boiling.'

The Wren Trust helps groups all over Devon make their own entertainment based on traditional music forms.

The charity is behind the Baring-Gould Heritage Project which celebrates the life and work of 19th Century folk music collector and Squire and Parson of Lewtrenchard parish Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould — this is one of the projects which has helped bring traditional music to the fore in Devon as well as strengthen the identity of particular areas.

Some of the people the Wren Trust is currently working with are a group of retired people in Southway, Plymouth, a family centre in Exeter, a community-based theatre company in Lewdown and a group of carol singers in Bratton Clovelly, who are re-working a selection of recently discovered traditional carols.

People are encouraged by the Wren Trust to learn about their culture and history and their work has managed to bridge the gap between young and old.

Mrs Tucker said teenagers and retired people had been brought together for the project at Southway to compile songs on what it was like leaving school today compared with 50 years ago.

She said the trust was going to produce a newsletter which would link the groups and bring key individuals together for an annual gathering.

'TV had a big influence on making people stay in and not engage with their community,' said Mrs Tucker. 'I think people are now becoming a little more active again in their communities especially in rural areas.

'There is also an awful lot of interest in English traditional music at the moment.'

The money will be used over the next three years.