People living in Cringleford have been enjoying having a first look at the village's brand new community centre.
After being a decade in the planning the £1.4m Willow Centre, in Dragonfly Lane, is now open for the community and on Saturday an open day was held to celebrate the project being completed.
The new centre includes a main hall for up to 250 people and that can also be divided it four smaller rooms, an office for the parish clerk, a café bar function room, kitchen, toilets, changing rooms, and some storerooms, while outside there is a new children's play area and full-size football pitch.
Anne Barnes, Cringleford Parish Council clerk, said: 'This centre has been a decade in the planning so I am thrilled to see it open for business. It will become a real hub for the village, providing parishioners with a wonderful meeting place and a fantastic venue for all kinds of community events. Our thanks go to everyone who has contributed to getting us to this point.'
About the open day, Mrs Barnes said: 'It was really well supported and we had a lovely turnout from the village. Everybody was delighted with the new community centre, and we look forward to welcoming as many parishioners as possible to the new centre.'
On Thursday house builder Kier Homes and Cringleford Parish Council also celebrated the completion of the centre with an event for about 90 guests. The land on which the centre stands was donated to Cringleford Parish Council by Kier Homes and Bovis Homes as part of the second phase of works at the Round House Park development. The house builders provided about £875,000 in funding for the scheme, which was delivered by Kier Construction.
• For enquiries about hiring Willow Centre email admin@cringlefordparishcouncil.gov.uk
• Do you have a story about your community? Email newsdesk@archant.co.uk
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