A CASH-strapped community centre has won more than £14,000 worth of heating equipment to help keep its elderly users warm this winter.

The Grange community centre in Hurworth, near Darlington, has for years relied on the vagaries of an old oil-fired heating system to warm its lofty building.

The system, which has been on its last legs for the past few years, also costs a small fortune to maintain and run.

A competition run by the National Energy Action Charity through the British Gas/Help the Aged community warm project offered a chance to win a new gas central heating system if the centre was used at least 65pc of the time by older people.

The management committee did their calculations and put forward their case.

In July, news broke that the centre was one of only seven community buildings in Northumbria, Cleveland and County Durham to be picked for the project.

But the good news almost turned sour due to a technical problem.

Shortly afterwards, the charity assessed the heating needs and granted £10,205 plus VAT for a new system. But when Transco arrived to survey the pipework, it found the pipes from Hurworth Road to the centre were too narrow for the new equipment.

With the cost of replacement pipework running to £3,832, dreams of a warm, energy-efficient centre began to disappear until Mr Arthur Scott, technical officer for the energy charity, pulled some strings and managed to get British Gas to fund the additional cost.

Mr John Lawrie, chairman of the Grange management committee, told the D&S Times that without the grant they could have faced serious problems. He said: "We knew the old boiler was on its last legs but we could never have afforded to replace it with a new one.

"A major breakdown would have seen us all in serious trouble. We are absolutely delighted and very grateful to British Gas for stumping up the extra cash. I believe work will start in January."

The centre, which caters for about 900 people a week, spends £2,000-£3,000 a year on oil. It is envisaged the new system will cut that bill by 20pc.