A PROJECT to rejuvenate a playing area in a West Devon village has taken one step closer to completion.

Brentor’s playing field has received a new lease of life thanks to substantial fundraising by the community.

Fundraising began after a survey was sent to Brentor residents in 2018 by the Brentor Village Hall and Playing Field Committee (BVHPF) to determine what could be done with the playing field as it had not been used for years. The field had been gifted to the community in the 1920s and housed a dilapidated shed.

The feedback was amalgamated and focused on the construction of an external shelter, a compost toilet, the creation of a hardstanding parking area, seating and tables and a community orchard.

Within the year, the committee had received £5,000 from West Devon Borough Council for the external shelter, £10,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund for a disabled access compost toilet, £6,000 from Postcode Lottery for outdoor seating, as well as money raised by Brentor residents.

The shed was pulled down in September 2019 and in its place went a new shelter and a hardstanding car park area. Outdoor seating is due to be put in place and the compost toilet will be completed in March.

Clare Percival, vice-chair of BVCPF expressed a ‘huge thank you’ to everyone who helped fundraise to make this possible for Brentor.

‘Thanks go to Margaret Calder and Will Walker-Smith for all their hard work and to Anna Percival who spent time filling in the planning application forms to Dartmoor National Park Authority [for the creation of a new shelter].

‘The village has been fantastic and everyone has been so supportive. The facilities that we are putting on the field are from money raised by the community for the community.

The next project that we want is children’s play equipment, which will cost around £10,000.’

Last week the committee received £935 from the National Lottery’s 25th Anniversary Community Fund of which £785 will go towards paving for disabled access and £150 towards trees in the field to start the community orchard.