Funding boost for Harbury

The trust awarded the hall’s management committee a grant of £88,524 to help fund work to extend the building, improve changing facilities and erect a stage.

Fundraising committee member Philip Mayer said: “The work this grant will fund will bring a wide range of benefits for current and future users of the hall and secure its role as a focus for activities for the whole community.”

The grant was awarded at the trust’s quarterly board meeting earlier this month when 53 grants totalling over £1.4m were awarded to community and environmental projects across the UK.

The Veolia Environmental Trust awards grants through the Landfill Communities Fund and since 1998 it has handed over a total of over £2.6m to 75 projects in Warwickshire.

The trust will now start working with the hall’s management committee to finalise the details of the project, including the start date, to get it up and running as soon as possible.

The executive director of The Veolia Environmental Trust, Paul Taylor, added: “This grant rounds off a very busy 2014 for us, with us awarding a total of £6.8m to over 230 community and environmental projects across the UK.

“The new extension and other improvements will bring a wide range of benefits for the hall’s many and we look forward to seeing work start in 2015.”