Westbury Youth Club
In 2024, we expanded our service and now offer an advocacy service to our members and their families, alongside running our weekly youth club sessions.
Towards the end of the year, we faced challenges with staff and volunteer numbers, which meant we had to cancel a few sessions. However, we are pleased to report that we are advertising for a paid staff member and have welcomed a new volunteer to our team.
Over the past year, we have worked closely with Wiltshire Council and their community engagement officer to help expand the offer for young people in and around the Penleigh and Oldfield Park areas. As a result, we invited the Wiltshire Doorstep Sports Team coach, who ran a session and spoke to our members about the upcoming launch of Doorstep Sports for young people in Westbury.
The rising cost of living has impacted us as a charity, and this year we have been unable to offer any extra activities. However, we will be part of the Tesco Community Vote in stores from mid-January and are hopeful that, with their support and funding, we will be able to hold a youth festival during Spring/Summer 2025.
In 2024, we worked with over 100 young people. Going into 2025, we hope to work with just as many, if not more, young people from Westbury and the surrounding villages through our current services. We also aim to extend our provision by working with local partners to offer young people even more opportunities in 2025.
Beth Mullins, Senior youth lead of Westbury and Warminster Youth Club
Westbury & District Link
Westbury & District Link has been serving the residents of Westbury, Chapmanslade, Dilton Marsh, Hawkeridge, Heywood, and Yarnbrook for more than 25 years. It is part of a network of similar organisations in Wiltshire and is run entirely by volunteers who give their time to help others.
Its volunteers provide transport seven days a week throughout the year for those who, for various reasons, have no access to transport. This service enables people to attend important appointments at hospitals in Bath, Frome, Chippenham, and Salisbury, as well as local doctors’ surgeries, dentists, and opticians.
The demand for its services has been steadily increasing over the past few years. Last year, up to the end of November, the organisation undertook 2,429 trips and covered 21,429 miles.
Westbury & District Link is a registered charity and does not charge clients for the service it provides but requests donations to help cover costs. Volunteers use their own cars, receive expenses in return, and offer as much time as they can, even if it is only a morning or afternoon each week. With the increased demand for its services, new volunteers are always welcome.
Further information about Westbury & District Link can be found on our website at www.westburyanddistrictlinkscheme.co.uk or by calling 01373 865669.
Westbury & District Cricket Club
Pictured: The men’s and women’s teams
As 2024 comes to a close, Westbury & District Cricket Club celebrate another fantastic year, marked by successes on the field and a strong sense of community off it.
The 1st XI secured promotion to the West of England Premier League (WEPL) after finishing second in Division 1 of the Wiltshire County Cricket League.
A stellar bowling attack and key batting performances were instrumental in this achievement, which reflects the hard work and dedication of the players. We look forward to seeing the 1st XI compete at this higher level again in 2025.
This year also marked the 3rd XI’s return to league cricket as they completed their first full season back. It has been wonderful to see the 3rd XI showcasing and developing emerging talent from the youth and ladies’ sections, as well as introducing new players to cricket.
The Ladies team had an outstanding year, claiming titles in both the Hardball and Softball Pairs leagues. This dual success highlights the growing strength of women’s cricket at Westbury, which the club is eager to build on in the coming years.
The youth section continues to be a cornerstone of the club, with teams across the Under 11s, Under 13s, and Under 15s. We also saw record numbers for All Stars and Dynamos in 2024, introducing cricket to a new generation and creating a fun, engaging environment for young players.
With the 1st XI entering WEPL, the 3rd XI gaining momentum, and the Ladies team defending their titles, 2025 promises to be an exciting year. The club remains committed to player development and improving facilities to ensure a bright future.
Thank you to all players, coaches, volunteers, and supporters for making 2024 an unforgettable year. Here’s to an exciting 2025!
Step Up Pre-School
2024 has been a good year for Step Up Pre-School in Dilton Marsh!
In September, we opened our brand-new Glowworm Baby Room in a purpose-built building within our grounds. The room is for babies aged 0–24 months, and it has been lovely welcoming lots of new babies and their families to our setting. In November, we were invited to attend Westbury Mayor Jane Russ’s Civic Awards and dinner and were amazed to receive an award from her for outstanding service to the community of Westbury – what an honour!
2025 is going to be another busy year! We are continuing our plans to improve and develop Step Up, which will include a new undercover outdoor play area for the Glowworms, new low-level toilets for the Bumblebee and Dragonfly children, and a refitted kitchen for the staff. We have lots of new children and families joining us in 2025 and are looking forward to supporting them all on their learning journeys.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all children and parents, past, present and future, a very Happy New Year.
Westbury and District Choral Society
Westbury and District Choral Society has enjoyed another successful year, with our usual series of events — a quiz, coffee mornings, come-and-sing sessions, bring-and-buy sales and our Spring and Christmas Concerts, all of which continue to be well supported by our friends, family and the people of Westbury and the surrounding areas.
Our membership has increased, but we are always looking for new members, particularly bass singers.
Next year marks our 100th anniversary, and we will be presenting a Centenary Concert on 10th May 2025, featuring Haydn’s Creation, which was performed at our first concert in 1925. We have also commissioned a new song to celebrate this event. There will be an exhibition at the town museum and a commemorative booklet will be published too.
We will be saying goodbye to our conductor and musical director, Luke Pickett, after 14 years, following the Centenary Concert. Luke has been a hardworking and creative MD and will be sorely missed for his energy, musicianship, conducting skills and patience. We wish him all the best.
We would also like to express our gratitude to our temporary accompanist, Ed Cooke. Ed, a well-known organ restorer, has been a great asset to the choir with his skill and sense of fun.
Westbury Choral is advertising for permanent posts for a musical director and accompanist to start in September 2025. Anyone interested in applying should contact the choir chair and secretary via our website.
Bratton Community Brass Bands
2024 has been a busy and exciting year for Bratton Community Brass Bands.
Our Bratton Brass Roots project continued to grow with a new intake of beginners and a group of adult learners. We were delighted to learn that our Brass Roots team won the Classic FM award for Best Music Learning Initiative – we were featured on Points West and Radio Wiltshire.
As an organisation, we held our first awards evening in April; awards included Band Person of the Year as well as the Snappiest Dresser!
Both the brass and silver bands had a full calendar of engagements, and our audience numbers are growing with each concert that we perform. In June, Bratton Silver Band teamed up with Warminster Military Wives Choir for a special concert marking the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
In July, we took part in the Bandemonium Brass Band festival for the first time. We travelled down to Devon, and along with 17 other bands, performed in several villages throughout the day. Great fun!
During National Brass Band Week, we took part in the ‘Proms in the Playground’ initiative, playing in six local primary schools with the aim of inspiring the next generation.
We were pleased to be involved in a very moving and poignant Festival of Remembrance Concert in the Civic Hall, Trowbridge, and Remembrance Sunday in Bratton.
During a very busy Christmas season, Bratton Silver Band brought the story of The Tailor of Gloucester to life with three performances across Wiltshire, all fully booked. Brass Roots held a wonderful Christmas Bonanza, and the Brass Band performed A Brass Yuletide: Christmas Concert to celebrate Christmas in traditional brass band style.
Have a look at our website or follow us on Facebook to see what we have coming up in 2025.
Bratton Church Institute
Pictured: Village Halls Week – March 2024
In March, we took part in Village Halls Week, backed by ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England). We held a table-top sale, a lunchtime soup kitchen, and a collection of toiletries and cleaning products for the Westbury Food Bank.
In May, we hosted our ever-popular plant sale in the garden of the BCI, which included plants and a “bygones” stall featuring old garden tools and equipment.
The Church Fete in June was a huge success, with numerous stalls, live music, ice cream, Pimms, and the Bratton Silver Band. The weather was glorious, which added to the event’s success.
We have now closed our Raise the Roof fund, launched in October two years ago, for repairs to the BCI roof. These repairs have now been completed. Additionally, the hedge in front of the hall has been removed and replaced with a fence, greatly improving the building’s appearance.
St James’ Church uses the hall for various events, including monthly informal Church Footprint Services, Cafe Church every three months, weekly Coffee Pot coffee mornings, a monthly informal Sing Praise evening service in partnership with Bratton Baptist Chapel, and the December Carol Praise with mulled wine, mince pies and even a donkey accompanying Mary and Joseph!
The hall is used by many different groups, including Bratton Bands, pottery classes, felt-making classes, music classes, dancing classes, meetings, the toddler group, Brownies, WI, beekeepers and for private parties. We have worked hard to increase the hall’s appeal to various organisations and regularly advertise our events on our Facebook page.
The Bratton Church Institute is also home to Bratton Community Brass Bands and Brass Roots (for children). In November 2024, Brass Roots, led by Lydia Grace-Hills, won Classic FM’s Best Music Learning Initiative award, earning a cash prize of £3,000 to buy instruments for the children.
Bratton Primary School
Pictured: Mrs Midgley, the school’s Forest School leader, Cllr Wickham, volunteers and children from the pollinator scheme
Wow, what a bumper year of enrichment, adventures and fun we have all had at Bratton Primary School during 2024! With a fantastic Ofsted report following our inspection at the end of January, we received positive inspector comments such as ‘The school supports them to learn, have fun and thrive’, ‘The school is ambitious for what pupils should achieve’ and ‘Pupils rise to meet these expectations’, which reflects all the hard work the children and staff contribute daily.
Our Little Troopers club for military children has gone from strength to strength throughout the year, getting involved with MOD projects like the Respect the Range campaign and representing at the village Remembrance Service.
June brought the return of Bratton Primary School’s Scarecrow Trail and Fete, with 40 beautifully crafted scarecrows dotted around the village for trail hunters to locate and identify. It was truly wonderful to have over a thousand people attend the trail and to see local businesses, village residents and school children united on the fundraising art project across the village.
Links with village residents have also extended to volunteers coming into school to support the pond development and forest area, and we are proud to have been included in the Pollinator Project with Cllr Wickham. We have even renamed all our classes this year to reflect our commitment to the Pollinator Project – Bumblebee, Butterfly, Ladybird, Grasshopper and Hummingbird.
Our sporting achievements have now been formally recognised with the School Silver Mark by the Youth Trust for enhanced sporting provision, with the school hosting regular sporting clubs, fixtures and tournaments, and our very popular Sports Week where we invite sporting experts into school to run workshops with all students. This has given children the opportunity to try exciting new things like aerial hoop, yoga, judo, assault courses and dance.
‘Learn, Have Fun and Thrive’ means so much to all the staff working at Bratton Primary School, with staff planning exciting trips, workshops and in-school events to ensure that all children blossom, develop a sense of community and experience lots of laughter and joy along the way!
We are already organising another action-packed year of themed activities for 2025! If you would like to know more about all the wonderful activities the children and staff have taken part in during 2024, please visit the school’s Facebook page for a flavour of the vibrant life in our school, along with photos and full reports.
On behalf of Bratton Primary School, we wish everyone a wonderful New Year!
Westbury Museum
Pictured: Mayor Jane Russ at an exhibition
Westbury Museum has just celebrated its third year in its premises on the first floor of Westbury Library – and the last 12 months have been busy with exhibitions, talks, walks, film shows and even a new book about the town’s history.
Memories of the much-loved Westbury Hospital started our first exhibition of the year. Hospitals, Healthcare and Home Remedies ran throughout April and told the history of the three hospitals that used to be in Westbury with photographs, medical exhibits, pills and potions, as well as a peek into medicines used in bygone times. Retired doctor Peter Ager kindly recorded his memories for us and visitors had the chance to add their own family remedies as part of the exhibition.
The main exhibition of the year took visitors back 150 years to see how Westbury used to be, featuring everything from occupations and earnings to town shops and local personalities. Displays included items from the railway, the cloth mills and the inns, as well as a nineteenth-century silk day dress and a handmade Victorian nightgown.
As part of the town festival, we staged a screening of the popular film Drawn to War, which told the story of wartime artist Eric Ravilious. We also led an informative history walk, taking people around the town’s blue plaque trail.
Sadly, the museum had to shut for a month during the year for repairs after water damage appeared in the roof of the Grade II listed building. Despite this, we welcomed almost 1,000 visitors over the year, who not only enjoyed the displays but also received help with their own heritage and family history enquiries.
The museum is supported by funding from Westbury Town Council, and this year we were pleased to help provide text and historic photographs for the council’s planned information boards.
We have also expanded our range of gifts for sale, including books, bags, cards, keyrings, coasters and the Westbury mug. While the museum will be shut for six weeks at the beginning of 2025, we are already planning our schedule with visits to schools, archaeology talks and WW2 exhibitions.
It has been a good year and we are very grateful to our volunteers and visitors for making it a success, along with the support of the town council and the White Horse News. Local history seems to be more popular than ever, and we are very proud to provide visitors with a taste of their town’s heritage.
Heritage Society joint chair Sally Hendry
