Okehampton United Charities (OUC) is offering up to £150,000 in grant money for a special project to celebrate the charity’s 150th birthday this year.

OUC trustees are asking residents to propose ideas for long-lasting community projects that the charity could fund in honour of the 150th anniversary.

OUC clerk Karen Percival, said: ‘To celebrate its 150th anniversary Okehampton United Charity is setting aside up to £150,000 from its reserves to create and fund (in addition to its usual grants) something special.

‘The ‘something special’ should provide a lasting benefit to the residents of Okehampton and Hamlets. OUC Trustees are asking for ideas how the money could be spent, the project must have a lasting benefit and be self-sustaining in the long term.’

This comes as the town sets to two other important anniversaries this year: 125 years since Okehampton Hamlets parish was established and 400 years since King James I presented the town with a town charter which created the borough of Okehampton.

The two Okehampton councils, the OUC, Everything Okehampton and the Museum of Dartmoor Life have joined together to organise a big celebratory event which is set to take place on July 9.

As part of the celebrations, the Okehampton Community Recreation Association (OCRA) will host a special Fields in Trust day and residents will also be able to join in with a celebration in Simmons Park.

There will also be a mobile exhibition, organised by the museum, in the museum courtyard which will be moved into the park on the day to allow residents to learn about their town’s history.

These celebrations will be in addition to the coronation celebrations which will take place in May, when the King is officially crowned King Charles III.

So far, the coronation celebrations include a street party and a live showing of the coronation with primary school children offered commemorative pens, as opposed to mugs, for the occasion.

Okehampton United Charity was created in 1873 to manage a number of land holdings with the income used to provide general charitable benefits in the Okehampton.

Today, it offers grants to any group or individual within Okehampton town and Okehampton Hamlets parish.

Anyone with ideas or suggestions for the ‘something special’, should contact Karen Percival on 07715 621480 or by email [email protected]. She can also be contacted by post at Okehampton United Charity, PO Box 109, Okehampton EX20 9BF.