CAMPAIGNERS are marking the anniversary of the closure of a council leisure centre by appealing for community backing for a new project at the building.

An enthusiastic team of Willington residents has spent the past year trying to reopen the former Brancepeth Miners' Welfare Hall, which was closed last April in council cutbacks.

The 74-year-old hall, built for pitmen and their families in the Willington area, had been part of the Spectrum Leisure Complex for 16 years and has a large hall, bars, kitchens, squash courts and other facilities.

Now the team says it could have a brilliant new future at the heart of the town's social, sporting and commercial life.

They are completing a business plan and have approached organisations and companies interested in taking space in the building, which is managed by a board of trustees.

Among their ambitious ideas for the new centre are a mining museum, after-school activities such as a homework club, space for businesses, community groups and other organisations, training and learning facilities, a snooker room, a reading room, dances, concerts, weddings and other social events.

Talks have already been held with Surestart, a government-backed programme aimed at children under four and their families.

Miner's daughter Dorothy Allan, who is a trustee, has been going to the hall since she was a little girl, and was given the job of taking along her father's sixpence (2p) a fortnight contribution to its upkeep.

She said: "It was built for the Willington community and we are determined not to lose it. We can make it better than it was before. Similar projects have been successful in other parts of Durham, so we know it can be done."

The group will outline its plans at a public meeting on Tuesday, April 9, at 1pm, in the Resource Centre, formerly Barclays Bank.

Mrs Allan said: "We have worked hard to get this far and we hope people will be behind us. We have been dismissed as 'bored housewives' but we are entirely the opposite. The heartening thing is that we have interest from a wide range of people and we believe we can make it work.