A WEST Devon village hall committee is celebrating scooping a cash bonus from the National Lottery — which means the building should be totally accessible to the disabled by the end of this year.
The Nicholls Hall committee in Lydford have been awarded a massive £72,971 grant to upgrade facilities in the 71-year-old building.
Ted Lyon, chairman of the village hall committee, said he was 'delighted' with the good news.
'We have been working on this for two-and-a-half years, so we are really glad it has come to fruition,' he said.
Mr Lyon said the 19-strong committee realised substantial work would be required to bring the hall up to modern standards by 2002 when disability discrimination laws will be enforced.
'We put in an application for a grant which would not only cover safe access for wheelchair ramps and an induction loop, we also included a new toilet block which would be accessible,' he said.
Mr Lyon said space for storage also had to be included in the plans to refurbish the building.
'The hall is very extensively used every night of the week,' he said. 'We have line-dancing, indoor bowls, table tennis — the school uses it as well on a part-time basis during the week, the WI use it, the parish council — it is very well used indeed.'
Mr Lyon said the grant is the first major injection of funds the hall has had since it was built and presented to Lydford by Alderman and Mrs Nicholls in 1929.
'We have still got to do fund-raising in respect of general maintenance, but this has taken a bit of a headache away,' said Mr Lyon, who explained the committee had been trying to build up reserves in case the Lottery grant needed to be match-funded.
Now the committee has had meetings with an architect about the work and expects tendering documents to be returned shortly.
'We hope to start work within three months, and be complete by the end of the year,' Mr Lyon said.