SOURTON Parish Hall committee is in a ?state of crisis? and desperately needs new members to keep the venue going one of the committee members has warned.

Lionel Humble, treasurer of the parish hall committee, said it was a ?great pity? that despite the size of the community only a handful of people were working very hard devoting much of their time towards the hall.

?Despite nearly 400 people living in the parish there are only five or six people prepared to do anything to help the hall,? he said.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the building of the hall, but committee members say younger people are needed to help continue the success of the hall into the future.

Mr Humble, a member of the hall committee for 10 years, appealed particularly to those younger people living in the parish to come along to a meeting being held by the committee and find out more about helping to spread the workload of running the hall.

Mr Humble said Sourton had great facilities and had a lot of private bookings so it was a shame there were not more volunteers able to find the time to help at the popular community venue.

Geraldine Jury, who chairs the village hall committee said: ?We are only a small committee, we have got a fantastic hall.

?What we need are some younger people coming through. They may have got different ideas.?

Mrs Jury said the committee was keen to get new members to bring ideas for the future forward.

?Our dream is to have a patio area so that people can sit outside in the summer and perhaps enjoy a cream tea,? she said.

A meeting of the committee is being held tonight (Thursday) at the hall at 7.30pm.

Anyone interested in getting involved is more than welcome to attend.

The hall has served as a venue for a number of performances by Bridestowe and Sourton Follies, who will again be performing there this year, as well as meetings of the WI and the parish council.