Grant of £5,000 for village hall (From Gazette Series)

Grant of £5,000 for village hall

COALEY Village Hall Committee has been awarded £5,000 by the Awards for All scheme.

The money will enable the committee to make much needed improvements, which will include additional disabled facilities.

The Awards for All scheme distributes money raised by the National Lottery, and is jointly run by the Arts Council South-West, The Big Lottery Fund, The Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England.

Grants of between £500 and £5,000 are made to grass roots community groups and organisations.

It is the second grant the committee has received from the scheme. In 1999 it was awarded £5,000 to improve other facilities at the hall.

Maureen Green, secretary of the committee, said: "We are delighted we got the grant, if not a bit surprised. We didn't think they were giving money to village halls.

"The money will be used to install disabled toilets but we also want to refurbish the existing men's and ladies' toilets, which will cost £30,000. The grant goes a long way but there is still a long way to go.

"We have applied for other grants and the community are doing an awful lot of fundraising by putting on events to raise the money."