£600,000 Lottery bid for Bishop's Castle Town Hall

A bid for nearly £600,000 has gone in to the Heritage Lottery Fund to help fund a major project to renovate a Shropshire town hall.

She said: "This is the second stage of a three-stage process.

"You take your idea to them in outline and then put in a first round application which is what's gone in."

She added: "If they're happy with it, we go through to a further development phase where you define more of the detail, it will take another nine to 12 months before we know if we are successful.

"We are nicely poised, waiting to hear."

A fundraising campaign to support the town hall renovations was launched in May and has so far raised about £12,500.

Possible plans for the work include repairs to the roof and general conservation.

The project has to promote the heritage aspects of the building if the funding bid is to be successful and future plans include involving local young people in researching the history of the site and promoting it through theatre and film.

For more details of the project visit www.bishop scastle.co.uk