VIDEO: Boxgrove to get new hall thanks to £300,000 award
Boxgrove residents are celebrating 'a dream come true' after long-awaited plans for a new village hall were given the go-ahead thanks to a massive £300,000 lottery grant.
It is hoped the ageing village hall, which will be demolished and replaced with a new 21st-century community building, could open in August 2010.
Doreen Johnstone, chairman of the Boxgrove Village Hall Fundraising Committee, said: "This is brilliant news. After eight years of fundraising to replace our dilapidated village hall, we can now start building a new facility to provide sport, education, health care and social contact for the parish."
The money from The Big Lottery Fund's Community Buildings programme will be used to construct the new 434sq m building with a flexible hall, smaller club room, medical centre, kitchen, toilet and storage facilities.
Mrs Johnstone said: "The aim is to provide an environmentally and financially sustainable building for the village and surrounding parishes.
"The old hall does not provide a nice environment anymore, especially with barely any heat in the winter. Village residents are getting very excited about the new hall and there's been a lot of demand from clubs wanting to hold events in it."
The fundraising committee needs to raise some additional funds, but Mrs Johnstone said these costs have no bearing on the progress of the new hall.
She added: "Now we have the lottery grant we have the ok to go ahead with building work. We will still be fundraising and applying to local charitable trusts and businesses to meet the final sum of money to complete the project."
Sophie Brooks, who runs the 200 club village lottery to raise additional funds, said: "It is fantastic news that we're so close to seeing the new hall become a reality."
Her father Nick, who was killed in a car crash in December 2007, was one of the leaders of the fundraising in Boxgrove
It is expected building work for the new hall will begin in November.
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Monday 13 February 2012
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