NEW sporting facilities for South Zeal were officially opened on Sunday with the unveiling of the pavilion at the village?s Recreation Ground.
The official opening of the new pavilion was undertaken by Exeter City FC manager Eamonn Dolan.
The building, costing almost £115,000, includes changing rooms and modern showers, a new snooker room complete with two full size tables, kitchen facilities and space for small, private functions.
The snooker club was originally established in the committee room of the Victory Hall in South Zeal before a hut at Zeal Head, that had once been part of a prisoner of war camp, and a drill hall, became available.
For more than 40 years the hut has been a sporting centre for succeeding generations of snooker players. Within a decade of it opening the offer by land-owner Mrs Petherbridge of a farm field at the bottom of the village to the football club for £1,500 opened up new possibilities; but the club was not charity based or grant aided.
The new pavilion brings football and snooker together under the auspices of the Recreation Ground Association in a building that will serve the community in many ways in future as village events, such as Zale Fayre, the Dartmoor Folk Festival and the Beating the Bounds.
Following the opening ceremony, the football club played their first match using the new facilities, but were unable to make a victorious start, going down 5-2 to Broadclyst.