VILLAGERS in Gin Pit, near Tyldesley, have become the first in the North-west to win a major award to improve their community.

The residents' association successfully applied for a £7,800 People's Places Award from the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and English Nature.

The grant will help the villagers develop a community woodland on land which was previously scarred by mineworking.

Restoration work will also include re-laying some footpaths, repairing and replacing fences and planting new hedgerows.

The work will be carried out by villagers in conjunction with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.