Horrabridge Rangers Sports Association has marked a huge step forward in the renovation of the pavilion at Fillace Park with a grant of £134,000 from the Department for Levelling Up.

A committee of members of Horrabridge Rangers, the parish council and the Horrabridge Recreation Field Trust was set up to take the project forward earlier this year. They have fought tirelessly to source the required funding, applying to The Football Foundation, the National Lottery, Postcode Lottery, Devon County Council and West Devon Borough Council.

Club secretary Ian Mulholland said: ‘We’re absolutely over the moon about this news, it now puts the project so much further in advance from our previous fundraising efforts and this makes our goal so much more achievable. We’re close to home and completion.

‘Angela Rippon is the football club’s patron who has helped champion the cause, we’ve had letters of support from the Devon FA and local leagues across West Devon and Plymouth, the Devon Junior Minor League, local councillors and our MP.

‘All the planning is in place, up-to-date and granted by Dartmoor National Park. We now have an extension on the planning too. The pavilion as it stands will be knocked down and rebuilt. We want this to be within the next 12 months.’

The original building, designed as a King George V pavilion in 1935 and refurbished in the 1970s, has become run down and it is now too costly to upgrade it for modern requirments.

Ian added: ‘We still need additional funding; we’re approaching the Football Foundation and any other local funders or individuals are welcome to donate to us if they would like. Our fundraisers will still be ongoing as a football club so we can reach the level we need to be at in full support for this project.’

The club has hosted a wealth of different events to fund the new pavilion this year, including monthly bingo nights at the London Inn (the next will be in January), a sponsored dinner and auction and a special charity football match to which former players over 30 were invited back to play. There are provisional plans in place for further matches for all ages next year.

Steve Roche, a parish councillor and trustee of the Horrabridge Recreation Field Trust (who administer the facilities in Fillace Park), said: ‘This is the fourth attempt in nearly 20 years to try and get this money and it’s been extremely hard work. We hope the Football Foundation will give us match funding too now. The field belongs to the trust, meaning it belongs to the village.

‘By way of fundraising we’ve also been running a ‘buy a brick’ initative whereby people can buy a brick and, if everything goes as planned, their name will appear on a special board inside the pavilion when it’s finished which thanks them for helping to rebuild it.

‘Everything’s really coming together now and it gives us every confidence.’