A SHROPSHIRE councillor has thanked a benefactor for donating land to a school and sports club in St Martins for much-needed sports facilities.

Iain Hill-Trevor has donated the land from his Brynkinalt Estate to St Martins and will officially hand it over on Wednesday at midday.

Councillor Steve Davenport, who represents St Martins at Shropshire Council, admitted he was delighted at the gesture from Mr Hill-Trevor, which he says will provide crucial sporting facilities for the village.

"Iain Hill-Trevor and his estate have bequeathed about 10 acres of land behind St Martins School to the council and the parish for sports facilities," he said.

"We negotiated for it to be behind the school so any future extensions in the future, we can creep onto it.

"Football is going to be the first thing on there but we want rugby and cricket on there too.

"We've got St Martins FC working hard to fund a new pitch and there will be, eventually, clubhouse facilities.

"We've already got the planning permission through.

"It's a significant thing that we're getting these facilities and while they are for St Martins, they're not just for St Martins.

"It's for Gobowen, for Weston Rhyn and even for Oswestry to eventually have a great sports facility for everyone to use.

"You can mention Ellesmere there too – for a small catchment area, there will be a lot of people who will be able to use this sports facility, bringing all the health benefits it will provide.

"And the school will be able to use it too, so it's a multi-functional facility and I'm so grateful to Ian for doing it as it was his family who gave the land for the school.

"There's so much history there for the village."

The official handover will take place at St Martins School at midday on Wednesday.