The people of the East Yorkshire village of Bishop Wilton near York will soon be making full use of a brand new community centre after being awarded £360,000 from the Big Lottery Fund.

The funding from BIG’s Community Buildings programme will provide the rural village with a vibrant new centre for community life, replacing the existing 125 year old village hall.

Steve Swire, chair of the project steering group, said: “We intend to construct a new eco friendly facility on our village playing field. It will be so much more than just a village hall and will incorporate sports changing facilities, provide much needed support for our school and church and will be developed as a base for countryside access for walking and field studies.

“We are a small country community in the wilds of East Yorkshire and we've been working for years to raise funds for a new village hall.”

He adds: “The Big Lottery Fund award has come at just the right moment. It’s been a long wait but we believe the new hall will be like a heart transplant bringing a new lease of life for our community in the nick of time!”

The old hall has fallen into a poor condition, leaving it unsuitable for children and young people. Inadequate heating, kitchen and toilet facilities, plus poor access saw some groups, including the mother and toddler group, leave the building all together.

The new hall will be a real focal point of village life, providing a venue for the scouts, guides and youth club. Sports and social clubs will offer activities ranging from cookery classes to yoga, and the centre will act as drop in centre for cyclists and walkers.

With the nearest doctors’ surgery a 10-mile round trip, medical consultancy clinics will also be held in the new building, making life easier for those without a car. The local school will also benefit by using the centre for productions and plays, and the church will have a venue for wedding receptions, funeral teas, christening parties and the harvest festival.

The environmentally friendly new building includes energy saving features such as movement sensors, low-energy lighting, instant heating, background heating, automatic switch off showers, a water recovery system and thermal insulation made from recycled paper.

Caroline James, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for Yorkshire and The Humber, said: “The new community hall will bring fresh vitality to the village and its state of the art facilities will become a key part of community life. The range of activities provided means there is something for everyone regardless of age or ability, making the hall a vital asset for the whole community to enjoy.”

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 10 20 30
Textphone:  0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• Community Buildings is dedicated to investing in buildings that give communities a chance to improve their quality of life and meet local needs, by offering a range of activities and services open to a broad range of people.
• £50 million will be distributed across England over three years with grants of £50,000 to £500,000 available.
• The programme opened for applications in June 2006. 200 applicants were invited to submit stage 2 applications and development funding was awarded to some projects.
• The programme is now closed for applications.  
• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £20 billion has now been raised and more than 300,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.