PLANS to re-roof a village hall have received a £50,000 cash boost.

West Barns Village Hall Committee has been awarded the sum from Viridor Credits to work on the building, on the village’s School Road.

The hall was gifted to the village in 1901 as a reading room and continues to deliver the donor’s original aim of improving community life.

As West Barns’ only community space, the hall is used every day for many initiatives, ranging from sports and fitness classes to adult education, parties, talks and dance classes.

The committee applied to Viridor Credits for funding earlier this year, alongside numerous letters of support from the community.

Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership (DELAP) has agreed to act as the contributing third party for the roof repair project, which will ensure the building is safe, energy efficient and water tight.

The area partnership, which is managed by Stuart Gibb, agreed to provide just over 10 per cent of the money required, which, in turn, released the funds from Viridor Credits.

Mr Gibb has now presented a cheque for £5,092 to Ola Zakrzewska, chairwoman of West Barns Village Hall Committee.

She said: “We are very grateful to Viridor Credits for recognising the hall as an important community hub and awarding us money to re-roof this historic building.

“We plan to re-use the original slate tiles wherever possible to retain the hall’s charming character.

“We are also indebted to Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership for their contribution to this stage of the ongoing refurbishment project and sincerely hope for future support.

“The village hall is thriving and I’m very proud to have helped in achieving that with my small yet dynamic group of volunteers.”

With sufficient funding secured, the West Barns Village Hall now has the potential to play an increasingly central role in providing a community hub.

Mr Gibb added: “Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership is delighted to be able to offer this help to the West Barns Village Hall Committee. Supporting village halls to operate as social, leisure and local service hubs is a key goal and so, with our help, this hall will now be brought up to a standard that will let it continue to be used as a fantastic asset by the local community for many more years to come.”

West Barns Village Hall Committee is a registered charity whose members are volunteers from the village, as well as Belhaven and Dunbar. The group strives to improve the quality of life for the inhabitants of West Barns and surrounding areas.

Its goal is to meet the educational, social and recreational needs of people of all ages through funding and managing a community facility and developing a programme.