TRUSTEES of Garway Village Hall are hoping a grant application of £700,000 for a new community centre will be approved.

The trustees have been working hard on stage three of their application for the capital building costs to the Big Lottery.

A decision is expected at the end of August or beginning of September.

Chair of the trustees, Malcolm Howard, said: "It is for a community centre, not a village hall.

"What we have in place at the moment is a little old building, which was built in 1920.

"It is the heart of this community to lots of people... The building itself is beginning to creak and groan and become a bit frayed at the edges. It is costing us a small fortune to keep it going."

Mr Howard said they decided to look to the future and build a centre, which could not just be used for groups as it is now, but also as an outreach centre and cafe.

The new centre would be a Passivhaus building, an energy efficient design which would reduce energy costs to £380 a year compared to the current £4,500 a year.

If the grant is successful the new centre would be built on land bought from Margaret and Nick Oke – part of the field opposite the Old School.

They would sell the existing hall site and hopefully see the current village hall placed in a museum.