PLANS to build an eagerly-awaited village hall have taken a major step forward, thanks to a £50,000 grant.

Villagers in Wensley, near Leyburn have secured the funding from the North Yorkshire Aggregates Grant Scheme.

They are trying to raise £90,000 to build a hall on land just off the village green, known locally as Cuthbert's Garth.

The land, owned by Lord Bolton, who is patron of the Wensley Village Hall Association, is named after Cuthbert Kirkbride, an elderly member of the charity.

The project has secured planning permission and building regulations. The work has now been put out to tender to local builders.

Villagers have raised £10,000 through a series of events and donations. Funding has also come from a number of outside organisations.

So far, about £70,000 has been gathered. Members of the association are planning to apply for more grants in the coming months.

The hall project grew out of a discussion by members of the local women's darts team, following a couple of drinks during one of their weekly fixtures.

Alison Simpson, joint co-ordinator of the project and captain of the darts team, said: "It is a very community-based project. Everyone in the village is rallying round to help out.

"They are all very excited about having somewhere to meet and hold events.

"We are quite a small village - only 116 residents - but we are quite a sociable village."

She said community facilities are practically non-existent.

"We haven't got anywhere to go at the moment. We have had meetings and events in people's homes, in cow byres and marquees.

"We have had the use of a small upstairs building for parish meetings, but it is up stone steps and doesn't meet with the latest disabled access regulations."

The new hall must be completed by March next year to meet the terms of the £50,000 grant.

Mrs Simpson said it would be used for sports days for local children, a luncheon club, coffee mornings for the elderly, art clubs, a book club, mother and toddler groups, keep-fit and yoga.