A DIFFERENT experience awaits anyone using Shobrooke Village Hall now that it has been renovated, repainted and has central heating plus new toilets.

It all took 10 months of fundraising plus a £26,000 grant from Viridor Credits Environmental Company and generous donations from local people and organisations.

This included £1,000 grants each from Shobrooke Parish Council and Devon County Council.

Shobrooke resident Heather Irvine, BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year, cut the red ribbon to re-open the hall as part of a buffet lunch to celebrate the hall being open again.

The toilets were almost rebuilt, a toilet for people with disabilities added. Then a crew of volunteers painted right through the building in cream and dove. They had done the outside last year.

People in the village chipped in with food for the buffet. There was a competition for the best eco-inspired hat or fascinator. Entertainment was provided by the Woodmen band.

Photographs of the village and screen prints by Phil Keen, who lives down the road from the hall, are on the walls. The prints are for sale (www.thescreenprintshop.com). Phil made the new sign for the hall.

Everyone was welcomed at the re-opening by Lesley Evans, chairman for the hall committee. After Heather cut the ribbon, another Shobrooke resident, 13 years old Ryan Fox who has cerebral palsy, unveiled the plaque in the refurbished foyer.

Ryan’s father, Darren, had been among the volunteers who did so much work.

Jack Fey, who has been involved with the hall for at least 60 years, the last 40 as treasurer, hoped all this work would signify a new beginning for the village hall at Shobrooke, that it would thrive in the future.

Regular users include the choir, parish council, dog training, yoga, plus birthday parties etc. Hire cost of the hall is £7 an hour which includes use of the heated kitchen.

Shobrooke Village Hall came into being around the beginning of the last century. It had been the carpenter’s workshop for the Shobrooke estate of Sir John Shelley who gave the hall to the village. The carpenter was Jack Fey’s grandfather.

This was the first time the hall had received such a complete overhaul apart from the 1960’s when electricity and water went in and the 1970’s when the kitchen was built.

By Sue Read