LOTTERY funding has been awarded to Bridgerule Village Hall so that it can pursue its aim to reduce isolation, increase the activities for younger people and consult with local residents on what they think is missing from hall activities.

The hall has been awarded £7,636 by the Awards for All Lottery fund and it hopes to use this funding on a consultation for new activities, a new telephone and broadband system so that businesses may also use the hall, as well as local people at an ‘internet café’.

Since 2013, nearly £125,000 has been raised through grants, fundraising activities, donations and income for regularly hiring the hall to make it an attractive venue for all manner of activities — including activities from keep fit to short mat bowls, dances to lunches, concerts to private parties.

Use of the hall has increased so much that it is now sought after by private individuals for wedding receptions, funeral teas, anniversaries and children’s parties.

It has a part time Post Office on two days per week and is also used for formal occasions such as local and national elections.

For some time now the village hall committee has felt that fresh ideas were needed about what activities local people would like in the hall, so a consultation exercise was carried out, both by the committee and by a professional organisation, Clarity CIC.

The results show that while the hall is meeting the majority of expectations, the younger people of the village wanted some activities that weren’t being provided. For example street dancing, a youth club, and a possible ‘skate park’.

Some people said during the consultation that they were feeling a bit isolated and some new activities to combat this have already been tried out; including trips out during the summer months, monthly lunches and regular coffee mornings. A computer training session has also been held.

Chris Hitchings, chair of the Bridgerule Village Hall committee, said: “Bridgerule is a fantastic place to live with a superb community spirit. This money will be used to encourage those people in the village to try out some new ‘taster’ sessions on activities that have been requested, and to install a phone line and internet access so that we can use the hall, not only for a possible internet café and ‘silver surfing’ but also to try and attract local businesses to use our hall for specialist training sessions, management meetings, bonding sessions etc.

“We will also conduct a specialist evaluation exercise within the next 12 months to see how and what we have managed to achieve.”

An application is also being considered by the Lottery’s ‘Building Communities’ section to fund the replacement of the roof, which is the last bit of a ‘jigsaw’, which will complete the refurbishment.

The committee has expressed its appreciation to the lottery team and local representative Jenny Fish and Clarity CIC for their support.

For more information contact chair Chris on 01288 381129 or secretary Sheila Cholwill on 01288 381350.