DONORS to a £9m appeal for Ampleforth Abbey and College were called "heroes" by appeal president Sir George Bull at a reception held at the abbey on Sunday.

He said the college's old boys, friends and families had beaten the target by £250,000 in four years. With legacies, the appeal will raise a "fantastic" £10m.

Sir David Goodall, appeal vice-president, said the generosity was a sign of the affection donors had for the work done by the monks.

The appeal - the fourth run in the abbey's 200-year history - was to mark the bicentenary in 2002.

The money has been spent on projects including extending the monastery, building the college's Bamford science centre, a new boarding house -Hume House, named after Cardinal Basil Hume - and the Savill field, an all-weather surface, where hockey is now played and a fitness suite and audio facilities are located.

Abbot Timothy Wright said some donors had specifically asked for their contribution to go towards the abbey's monastery in Zimbabwe where the community was doing a "wonderful job" in difficult circumstances.

He said health and safety issues would force refurbishment in the abbey church where too many steps and too few doors had attracted attention. At the same time the abbey organ was ready for major refurbishment.

Speaking of the Government's review of independent schools' charitable status, he said the monks were always seeking to make their facilities available to the wider public and future developments would take this into account.

Headmaster Fr Gabriel Everitt said: "There's a sense of confidence in the future of Ampleforth."

He said a new challenge for the college was "mother power" with mothers pressing for higher standards of accommodation than their old-boy husbands were willing to accept.

Girls seeking to go to the college were interested in horses so stables were one of the head's dreams.

Another was an observatory in partnership with local schools. He hoped for an extension to the St Alban's sports centre, which is well used by the local community.