A MAJOR scheme to improve a rural village hall has been boosted with a National Lottery grant for £10,000.

The Crakehall Village Hall committee, near to Bedale, has been given the funds under the Lottery’s Awards for All scheme.

The money is part of the money given to the Vale of York area in the latest round of Awards for All funding hand-outs.

Jonathan Neale, Crakehall Village Hall committee chairman, said: "We compiled a wish-list of things we wanted doing to the hall and we came up with a list of 130 different items.

"We managed to whittle this down to a list of ten which include a hall extension and the fitting of double glazed windows and doors.

"They are all expensive items that we have a chance to do now. We don’t charge hall users to make a profit and we just charge enough to keep it ticking over.

"We would not have to shut down without this but, for example, we paint one third of the windows in the hall each year and that costs us £700 annually alone.

"The whole project will cost around £60,000 so this will not cover all of it but we do have other applications in for grants.

"We are absolutely over the moon to get this and credit is due to Martyn Mongon who has done a lot of work for us on this."

Work to replace the old windows and doors with double glazed ones has already taken place at the hall as the funds are spent.

The Forest of Galtres Society also received £9,950 from the National Lottery through the Awards for All scheme.

It will spend the funds on providing computer equipment and training for its staff and to help set up a website.