IT WAS champagne all round as residents of Jubilee Fields estate in Shildon watched the first turf being cut for their long-awaited community centre.

Seven-year-old Rachel Fuller was only a baby when the campaign to build a hall for the Shildon community first began.

With a spade almost as big as herself, the pint-sized helper cut the commemorative turf with the assistance of Elizabeth Carr, a member of the hall's management committee.

Six years ago residents from Jubilee Fields secured £450,000 worth of grants to build the estate's first ever community hall.

Sisters Joanne and Marie Humphrey, who lost their mother and three small boys in a fire that shocked the community, gave £800 towards the community hall from donations collected in the town in the aftermath of the tragedy. They could not attend the ceremony, but the boys' aunt, Anne Talbot, represented them.

She said: "Rather than putting up play equipment outside that could be vandalised, they decided to provide things for the crche.

"There are lots of children around here who will benefit. Everyone has worked really hard for this centre."