A VILLAGE which has the largest acreage and smallest population in Devon is looking to refurbish and increase activities at the centre of its community — the village hall.

Broadwoodkelly has no shop, post office or school and only one bus once a week so the village hall is a vital resource.

From a recent survey of Broadwoodkelly's 80 households conducted by the Village Hall Committee, it was concluded that the building, which used to be the school before the Second World War, needed a bit of a revamp and a bigger range of activities.

Committee chairman Chris Oliver said nearly 60 people replied to the survey, which was really encouraging and 30 wanted to see educational opportunities, especially computer training.

'The consensus of opinion was that the hall was worth spending money on but being a very small parish money is something we do not have much of,' he said.

'We would like to seek some funding to replace the windows, provide a disabled toilet and some educational or computer classes and a storage area for play equipment for the toddlers' group.'

The committee has been in touch with Chumleigh College which has a mobile training workshop, but to access this service it would need to have some computer technology and space to work in.

Mr Oliver said the first step was to get some pre-project funding of around £2,000 so the committee could get to the stage of appointing an architect to draw up some plans.

'Ultimately we will be looking at around £50,000 to provide what the village wants and we are currently looking into different funding sources,' added Mr Oliver.

On Saturday an open meeting to discuss plans for the village hall was held and this was followed by a 'bonfire, bangers and mash' social evening.