Gulworthy parish hall is set to receive upgrades in the near future following the award of two grants from Devon County Council for £2,500 and the National Lottery for £10,000.

The grant from Devon County Council comes from the annual locality budget of County Councillor for Tavistock and Gulworthy Debo Sellis, who joined chairman of the Gulworthy parish hall committee Jim Chalcraft recently to present him with the cheque.

The money will be spent on an extension to the front of the building and the provision of some helpful exterior modifications.

Jim said: ‘It’s fantastic to receive this. We’ve also applied for a Devon community grant, which can be anywhere up to £10,000. We’re just waiting for a final quote right now from a builder and in the process of receiving a final report. We were recently given 140 chairs from a hotel too.

‘The hall is really popular and hosts a wealth of different activities. The martial arts group started with just four people. It’s now expanded to over 30. Lots of youngsters come up from the school to do the different sessions. There’s hardly anywhere for them to go – unlike Tavistock where you have the Meadows or The Wharf – all we have is the school, the church and the hall. The church is shut a lot of the time and the school is closed by the 3.30pm. The hall is so popular, every fortnight on a Wednesday we do rock and roll, where people come from Plymouth and as far as Bude and St Austell. ’

He added: ‘When I took over as chair of the committee 16 years ago, the building was in a bit of a dilapidated state. In that time it’s been reroofed, been given a side extention and a new kitchen. Since then we’ve had underfloor heating installed which is powered by a biomass boiler to be green. As we’ve received more funding, we’ve made gradual upgrades under short term plans. We’ve mapped out a long term plan for the hall for the next 20 years too!’

Recently, a hearing loop, PA system and overhead projector with a screen have been installed. At the end of 2019, the hall received a donation which allowed the committee to replace three elevation windows at the front of the building. Future plans for the hall would see LED multi-changer lighting outside to make the hall even more visible to those passing through the village.

Debo said: ‘I represent Tavistock and Gulworthy and fully believe Gulworthy should have this money. The parish hall is the absolute hub of Gulworthy. It’s really well used by so many people and groups in the community such as Zumba, Slimming World and of course martial arts - it’s a fabulous place to have weddings too. It’s a joy to work with Jim and the committee. I’m also very happy to write a letter of support to help with the community grant application.’

For more information about the hall, visit: www.gulworthyparishhall.co.uk