A heritage charity is appealing for new members to help preserve the town’s history.

Swindon Civic Voice is encouraging people to join its ranks to help support its work in the town.

Chairwoman of Swindon Civic Voice Angela Atkinson said: “We need more members to help us do more.”

The society needs to fill the roles of treasurer and membership secretary, as well as helpers for events, phone research and paperwork.

“We have a huge amount of history here in Swindon and a huge amount to be proud of,” said Mrs Atkinson.

The 40-strong group is part of the nationwide Civic Voice organisation, a network of societies across England working to improve where people live.

Central to the organisation is the promotion of pride through celebrating heritage, as well as providing a community voice for future development.

Over the years Swindon Civic Voice has been involved in a number of developments, including Croft School, the Mechanics’ Institution, Tadpole Farm, the Locarno and housing proposals at Coate.

But Mrs Atkinson admitted: “Swindon Civic Voice has had a difficult couple of years, with a couple of us having several months of illness each.”

Despite this the society, put on national civic day events in 2017 and 2018. These helped the Railway Village make the Civic Voice Society’s shortlist of 18 for its England’s favourite conservation area award.

And a social media campaign by the society and local people ensured it got to the top spot in October last year, winning by a thousand more votes than the next closest entry.

“Our Railway Village was poles ahead of the competition,” said Mrs Atkinson. “It was incredible. Awesome in the best sense of that word.

“Swindon often gets derided, and so I think there was a real hunger for something positive for the town,” she added.

“It was a real opportunity to change the discourse, and that is part of what Swindon Civic Voice do.”

“We’ve now got three new committee members – Sally Coles, Jo Rigden and Alan Gaunt – all of whom are helping us make progress. But one or two more without prescribed roles to help us pick up on projects as and when would be fab.”

“My dream would be to to do more in the rest of Swindon, because there are some fantastic places in other parts of the town.”

If you can help or want to join Swindon Civic Voice, visit swindoncivicvoice.co.uk or contact info@swindoncivicvoice.org.uk