MARY TAVY recreation field has taken on a new lease of life - and has a new set of owners to match after being handed back to the trustees last week.
The Mary Tavy Recreation Fields Improvement Committee, which was set up in 1996 to address the derelict condition of the field facilities, has created a fantastic new leisure resource which now returns to the care of the trustees and local community group, Friends of the Field.
Over the past eight years the committee has undertaken a number of projects ? some innovative, some renovative ? including the construction of a new playground and junior football pitch and the refurbishment of multi-sports courts for tennis, basketball, netball and junior five-a-side football.
Further major improvements have been made to the area over the past 12 months, including a £7,500 enhancement scheme for the field site and a £10,500 refurbishment project in the changing rooms.
The money for the changing rooms was raised with the help of grant aid from the National Lottery?s Awards for All and money from the Football Association. And it was just like the TV show Changing Rooms ? in under a year facilities have gone from glorified hut to Sunday League splendour.
The rooms have been painted and decorated, completely rewired and fitted with new boilers, added to which the referee has a new room of his own ? and the ladies have their own toilet.
The field enhancement works were funded through grants from Devon Action Fund, Community Champions and Dartmoor National Park.
These include the planting of numerous wild flowers and more than 100 trees, the introduction of field notice-boards and the positioning of four granite benches.
The committee has also improved local footpaths and created an exciting nature trail through the nearby woods.