Kate ScotterHopes are high that community spirit will be rekindled in a Norfolk village after a parish council was awarded �10,000 to revamp its village hall.Kate Scotter

Hopes are high that community spirit will be rekindled in a Norfolk village after a parish council was awarded �10,000 to revamp its village hall.

Work has started to refurbish Ringland's village hall in time for the summer after the parish council won the money from The Big Lottery Fund.

The project was one of 20 in Norfolk recently awarded grants from the lottery as part of its Awards for All scheme.

It is hoped that once the village hall is complete, it will help boost the community spirit in the village and bring villagers closer together.

Jan Ames, parish clerk, said: 'The village hall was in a dilapidated state. No work had been done on it for years and the heating and lighting were inadequate and it was in desperate need of refurbishing.

'It's used very, very little at the moment - just parish council meetings, a table tennis club was using it and Taverham Band used to use it.

'We're trying to get the community as a village together and hopefully once the village hall is complete then it can be used for all sorts of functions and bring back some of that community spirit which has been lost.'

The village hall was an old Methodist church, dating back to the 1800s.

As part of the revamp, new lighting is being installed, the ceiling is being lowered and some of the floor is being replaced.

Work started three weeks ago and it is hoped it will be complete by early July.

The lottery money has helped pay for most of the �12,500 project but a further �2,500 has been raised by donations from villagers and money from the parish council's budget.

Across the county, the Big Lottery Funded awarded more than �135,700 to voluntary and community groups. Other winners included Drayton Community Infant School and Snowy's, a new pre-school and nursery being set up in Brundall.

The Awards for All programme launched on April 1 last year and with �45m to distribute across England it is the lottery fund's biggest ever commitment to a small grant scheme supporting community projects.

The scheme offers grants of between �300 and �10,000 to social and environmental projects that will benefit local communities and make a difference to the lives of those most in need.

For more about the grants scheme go to www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Has your community group received a cash boost? Call Evening News reporter Kate Scotter on 01603 772326 or email kate.scotter@archant.co.uk