A COUNTY village hall has a bright future after a £10,000 grant to carry out improvement works.

The funds, awarded by Welcome to Our Future Severn Waste Environmental Fund – responsible for the management of the Severn Waste Environmental Fund (SWEF) in Herefordshire and Worcestershire – have helped to improve Cawley Hall, near Eye.

Work has included a new system of stage lighting, railings around the car park, a hot cupboard for the kitchen, material to construct an extra ramp for wheel chair users and a sign to show drivers where the hall is from both directions.

"We are very, very excited about it," said Anita Syers-Gibson, a committee member of Cawley Hall.

"The North Herefordshire Archive Group is based at the hall and for the past few years has become well known for screenings of film archive material of local interest.

"The group has been involved with projects such as the Media Archive of Central England (MACE)'s Full Circle, and the Rewind project in conjunction with the Huntley Archive at Ewyas Harold.

"Another popular event was the recent film, 'Chewing the Cud', which depicts life in Hereford's old cattle market – the building which was originally constructed by Dales of Leominster.

"There have also been two exhibitions of prints from the vast collection of material from Leominster's Victorian photographer, Thomas Henry Winterbourn."

The committee hopes that work will be complete by its gala night which will feature a screening of film Five Years in the Fifties – archive material from the Frank Dale collection.

Tickets for the event, which takes place on August 14, cost £10 and will include Pimms and nibbles.

To buy tickets call 01568 615836.