THE start of 2004 sees the end of an era in Bridestowe, as the community?s condemned village hall finally bites the dust.

The ageing hall was closed in October 2001 on safety grounds. Since then, the site has been sold to developers for housing and last week workmen moved in to start demolishing the building.

David Porter, chairman of the village hall management committee, said the loss of the hall has had a major impact on Bridestowe.

?It affects the village enormously,? he said. ?Some things just can?t happen within the village now, and others take place in other villages, which is terribly inconvenient for everyone.?

Mr Porter said the committee now had to look to the future and was constantly investigating sources of funding which would enable a new hall to be built at Pool Hill in Bridestowe.

?We have a new hall site, which is a lovely half-acre site overlooking the moors.

?The new building will have all the facilities of a modern village hall, with a large hall for meetings, disabled facilities, a smaller meeting room, male and female toilets, a kitchen, an outside patio, parking for 30 to 40 cars ? it will be a fantastic village hall.

?It has been designed and costed and we have planning permission ? we could start tomorrow if we had the money.?

He said the committee was ?well over halfway? towards securing the total project cost of around £340,000 ? but had just suffered a setback after a third application to the Lottery?s Community Fund was rejected.

Mr Porter said there were still many organisations where it was possible to obtain small grants, but it had become increasingly difficult to obtain large amounts from the Community Fund, whose grant criteria had changed and tightened over the years.

?The rules are always changing, however, and we haven?t lost hope yet because we are already so far down the line,? he said.

The original Bridestowe hall started life as a world war one Canadian forces sergeants? mess hall at Halwill Camp. After the war, the building was dismantled and brought to Bridestowe by horse and wagon and re-erected in the Tanyard, where it was known as ?The Institute?. Following refurbishment in 1938, it became known as Bridestowe Parish Hall.

In the following years, the hall was used for a variety of regular and special events such as dances, coffee mornings, harvest festivals, sales, concerts, yoga classes, short mat bowls and table tennis.

It also provided facilities for local groups like the WI, scouts, and weekly doctor?s surgery as well as serving as a polling station.