THE STORY of how Bratton Clovelly Parish Hall went green will be revealed at an open day on November 6.

Out went the ineffective and costly old electric night storage heaters and LPG heaters and in came a carbon-neutral fully automatic wood pellet boiler and efficient fan-assisted heaters.

This, together with the installation of solar panels to generate power on-site, has completed the parish hall renewable energy project — and much of it is down to the determination of the parishioners.

The project was first considered more than two years ago with the objectives of reducing Co2 emissions, providing a sustainable income and improving the hall's heating system.

Chairman of Bratton Clovelly Parish Hall Committee Graham England said: 'The advice at the outset was that 100 per cent funding was available for the installation of renewable technologies in community buildings with the funding split between two different grant bodies.

'In the event, after applications to several different funding sources, only £106,000 was received towards a £150,000 project and raising the balance seemed a major problem.'

Several complications followed and the project at one point looked in jeopardy but in the end it was the parishioners that came up trumps, raising £67,000 in short-term loans to cover a cash-flow deficit.

The project was downsized by slightly reducing the size of the solar panels to reduce the costs and a loan was secured from Action with Communities in Rural England's Village Hall Loan Fund.

Mr England said: 'Since June we have generated 4,000 kilowatts of energy for the national grid, which is worth £1,500. We then buy back the electricity we use and the extra we generate is repaying the loan.

'We estimate it will take seven years to repay the loan but after that there will be an income for the hall and the writing on the wall is that the project will be a great success.'

He added that with the wood pellet boiler the hall was a lot warmer and the pre-school no longer had to cancel its sessions because of the cold.

There will be a number of renewable energy experts at the open day which runs from 10.30am to 3pm and anyone interested can come along and get advice. Refreshments will be available.