A NEW hall and a whole range of fresh opportunities for the villagers of Spreyton opened up on Sunday after four years of hard work came to fruition.

Almost 400 people celebrated the completion of Spreyton's new village hall, which has replaced an old army shed complete with leaky roof and condemned kitchen.

The £240,000 project became a realistic option last year with the announcement of a lottery grant at the second attempt and ten months on there is real excitement in the village.

Spreyton Village Trust member Neil Edwards said it had been a four-year haul but everyone was delighted with the finished project.

'The new building is already attracting interest from people who would not have used the hall in the past and it is really increasing opportunities for people's growth and development in terms of new clubs and interests,' he said.

'With PCs and internet access we are introducing a computer club and as part of our IT budget we have bought a projector so we can start a little cinema club.'

On the commercial side the trust hopes to encourage people to use the hall as a conference centre as it is situated on a beautiful site given to the village by the Lambert family, who owned the Coffyns Estate in Spreyton for 100 years.

Mr Edwards said the new hall had been built on the footprint of the old hut with a new L-shaped building attached where all the new facilities were provided.

'The big bonus is a committee room which is being used by groups and clubs and on Sundays by the Methodist Church,' he said.

'We have also got a super new kitchen which was funded by a trust fund left by villager John Anderton and it will be called John's Kitchen.

'We had nearly 400 people here on Sunday and we managed to feed them all lunch so that says something about our new kitchen.'

The opening ceremony was performed by Lady Gibbings, the daughter of the second Viscount Lambert, and West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett was among the guests.

'I think it is a wonderful achievement for the village and a fantastic hall,' said the MP, who helped in the fundraising campaign. 'The huge community spirit that was shown to get the project to this stage is typical of this area of Devon.

'The hall is not just for the good of the people who live in Spreyton today but for the generations to come.'