BISHOP’S Castle Heritage Resource Centre has secured a grant of £38,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The money will be used to develop it as a local history centre over the next 12 months, by importing digitised copies of important local records held at Shropshire Archives.

Equipment, travel to and training at Shropshire Archives and other costs will all be met by the grant and the project will start at the beginning of next month.

“This is a ver y exciting development for Bishop’s Castle and area,” said project administrator Evelyn Bowles.

“The Heritage Resource Centre currently stores heritage collections for a number of individuals and organisations, and has recently started both a house history research group and a family history group, but people are frustrated that so many records on Bishop’s Castle and surroundings are held in Shrewsbury.

“This project will make a wide range of material much more accessible to people who want to carr y out research.”

Open sessions will be held at the centre on Thursday, July 23, from 7.30pm to 9pm, and Saturday, July 25, from 4pm to 6pm. Volunteers who will be working on the project will be there to chat about the opportunities it will offer.

For further details, contact Evelyn on 01588 638 851.