FOUR Burnham-on-Sea groups gave presentations about the positive impact community grants have had to their projects at the annual town meeting.

The meeting at the Princess Theatre on April 25 saw representatives from Burnham Railway Heritage Group, Hillview Carnival Club, Burnham Football Club and Monarch's Gymnastics Club give presentations about the progress of their community projects since Burnham and Highbridge Town Council granted them funding. 

Paul Hambleton from Burnham Railway Heritage Group spoke about the work that had been done to mark the 50th anniversary of the town's railway's closure. 

Mr Hambleton said a replica signal, weather vane, station name board and new road name had been introduced over the last year and thanked the town council for their support. 

He said: "I would like to thank the mayor for attending our ceremony in March and thank the town council for helping us to fund this project."

Representatives from Hillview Carnival Club also praised the town council and said the grant funding had been a 'huge boost' to the club. 

Duncan Britton, chairman of Hillview CC, said: "We have now got 21 children at the carnival club who are all local between the ages of 6 and 16 and have 16 helpers.

"In 2014 our arrangement for a premises with Caxton Furniture came to an end and we were made homeless. 

"We had nowhere to store our cart and Terry Rickard, owner of Burnham Waste generously said we could use of his sheds to store our cart. 

"In 2016 Terry offered us the opportunity to have a standing concrete area that we could build on to store our equipment. 

"We got a grant from the town council and it has been a big boost for the club. 

"Now we have a fully functioning premises and have a new tractor, generator trailer and cart which we can store all year round in our premesis. 

"We want to say a huge thank you to the town council for their help and support."

Burnham United's Paul Sealey and Oliver Taylor thanked the town council for their £10,000 grant which helped them secure funding from Viridor to build their new £280,000 club house. 

Sue Merrit and Mandy Warburton from Monarch's Gymnastics updated the mayor and town councillors about the new soft play equipment they had purchased thanks to a town council grant. 

Sue, said: "The new soft play equipment we have bought has been beneficial to our toddlers who are learning some basic conditioning skills by using the equipment. 

"Some of our older students also enjoy using our soft equipment and all have a lot of fun with it. 

"I want to say thank you to the town council for their support, without it this would not have been possible."