Four Sheppey schemes have been awarded a £17,000 chunk of a £1.5 million arts grant.

Arts Council England gave the money to the consortium Creative People and Places: Swale and Medway in 2012 for it to encourage those who are not usually interested in the arts to have a go.

Sheppey Local History Society has secured £2,000 to allow it to create a visual history of the Island for the Gatehouse Museum in Minster.

The idea is an artist will put together a time line to display along the 12th century stairwell inside the museum and they are open to suggestions and hoping to hear from all sorts of different artists including sculptors, carvers and quilters.

Volunteer Mary Thomsett said: “We really want lots of people to come in with ideas so we can pick the most suitable and do something for the Island. We want the schools involved too.”

Organisers of the successful Love Sheppey event which took place last year to showcase the Island’s talent have been given £5,000 to stage it again this summer.

Arts and crafts of professional quality will be on display.

Organiser Laurie Harpum said: “I’m aiming at it being bigger than last year but still have the professional quality art and craft that Sheppey has to offer.

“It’s great to see a share of the pot coming to the Island.”

Barton’s Point Coastal Park in Sheerness is planning to use its £5,000 donation to create a chainsaw sculpture trail in the grounds of the venue off Marine Parade.

Wood from trees toppled by the wind will be made into sculptures depicting Sheppey’s environment and history by a chainsaw artist and a series of events will be held around this.

Travis Illsley, from Sheerness, is the fourth recipient and is hoping to recruit some creative youngsters for his Island Young Arts project after getting a £5,000 share of the grant.

The 21-year-old says he’s aiming to make a real difference in the community by giving each volunteer who he takes on £200 to create a piece of artwork.

Mr Illsley, who is youth project worker for Sheppey Matters, is hoping to recruit about 16 people aged between 11 and 25 of all abilities and all those who join in will also get a Trinity Guildhall Arts Award.