CHAMPAGNE corks have been popping in Holybourne this week following news that the village hall has been awarded a £25,000 lottery grant.
The money, from the National Lottery Community Fund, will help secure the future of a £75,000 project to refurbish and extend the village hall, as part of a modernisation programme designed in part to bring the 1920s building into line with requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act.
Delighted with the award, chairman of trustees John Day told The Herald: ÒThis grant shows that it is still possible for a small, local volunteer group such as ours to gain financial support from the National Lottery, despite the gloom and doom stories we have heard recently about much less money going into the lottery and far more stringent criteria being adopted.Ó
According to Mr Day, the Community Fund, knowing that the hall trustees wanted to carry out their work during the pre-school group summer holidays, pulled out all the stops and dealt with HolybourneÕs application in just four months - the average application apparently takes nearer to seven months to process.
With a further grant of £25,000 from East Hampshire District Council due to be ratified as The Herald went to press, and other grants totalling £15,000 already agreed by Hampshire County Council and Alton Town Council, the trustees are now well on the way to achieving their target.