A popular and well-used community centre is going to reopen

And lots of people seem very happy about it.

The Toothill Community Centre in Dunwich has been closed for months since the previous tenants decided in December last year to stop running the centre.

Now Swindon Borough Council has given Age UK Wiltshire the contract to run it again.

The charity said it wants to run all sorts of activities for all ages and members of the community - from martial arts classes to foot care services,from cooking classes to a dog club.

Councillor Keith Williams, the council’s cabinet member for corporate and customer services, said: “I am delighted that Age UK Wiltshire will be taking over the tenancy of Toothill Community Centre.

“As a council, one of our key priorities is to help people become active citizens in their communities and having a thriving community centre is an important way of enabling that.

“We are happy to work with the charity as much as we possibly can to ensure the community centre becomes the success we all hope it can be.”

Age UK said intends to put its vision for the centre to a public consultation and will consider the responses when deciding upon which activities to offer.

Simon Billingham, director of services at the charity's Wiltshire branch, said: “We look forward to working with the council and local residents to create an inter-generational community centre at the heart of Toothill.

“We are keen to ensure that a diverse range of groups, clubs and people utilise the facilities in future and would welcome any thoughts and ideas from local people to help inform our plans. We will also be advertising shortly for local volunteers to help turn the centre into a venue people will value and use.

“As well as creating a fantastic resource for Toothill in the coming months and years, we also plan to develop new services and projects for older people right across Swindon.”

The plan got enthusiastic backing from the Labour councillors for Mannington and Western, covering Toothill.

Councillor Jim Robbins said: "We are all really pleased that the centre will be open again and start providing services.

"We've been inundated with people and groups who wanted it open again because it was always very well used.

We look forward to working with Age UK to make it as place that really serves the local community in a successful partnership and we hope that it opens again soon."

The charity will have a five-year lease.

Anyone who would like to get involved in the Community Centre at Toothill, or in Age UK’s wider work, can get in touch on 01380 727 767 or by visiting: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/wiltshire.