Okehampton music charity Wren Music has received lottery funding to set up a folk music trail to encourage people to learn about the town’s history through music.

The charity is now calling out for residents, past and present, to tell their stories which it will set to folk music to be played at various locations around the town. Once available, visitors and residents will be able to follow the trail through app or website to the various locations and play the music associated with it. The charity is also planning to publish a paper and online leaflet to make the trail, which has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as accessible as possible.

Wren Music director Marilyn Tucker, said: ‘Because folk music is not art music — it’s music from and of the people — it often reflects real life stories and so you can use them as insights into social history. And so it just seems to me an obvious thing to do because we’re in the middle of Baring-Gould [a 19th-20th century folk musician] country here ­— he was in Lewtrenchard — we’ve got a big collection of folk songs made especially in Devon that we can we can draw on. It was just bringing those two things together.’

There will be two memory cafes at Ebenezer Hall, Wren Music’s base, on March 22 from 10:30am to 12pm and on March 29 from 2:30pm to 4pm for residents to come and share their memories of the town, while enjoying some afternoon tea. Wren Music musicians are also open to attending other groups around the town if members wish to offer memories.

Marilyn said: ‘We really want the community to own this project, and we’d love as many people as possible to come along to our memory cafes to talk about which places in Okehampton are special for them.

‘We want to hear about some of the hidden histories of the town, as well as the more obvious public places. From these stories we’ll be able to find out which locations are significant and research the history of those places a bit more.

‘We’re experiencing an influx of visitors and new people, so also this will be a resource for them to know about the town, but it also gives people here a chance to say “yeah, I belong to this place”.’

Anyone who is unable to make the memory cafes but wishes to offer a story can phone Marilyn at Wren Music on 01837 53754. For more information, visit www.wrenmusic.co.uk.