(Image: Supplied)
A village hall near Darlington that serves as a hub for community activities has received a four-figure boost to replace its ageing floor, ensuring the facility can continue welcoming residents for years to come.
Sadberge Village Hall, which regularly hosts pilates, badminton, keep fit and dance classes, as well as twice-weekly Post Office outreach sessions, has installed a new floor thanks to a £7,000 grant from the OnPath Energy community fund.
The fund is linked to the nearby Moor House Wind Farm.
Ray Murphy, secretary of the Sadberge Village Hall Association, said: "The hall is very much the focal point for village life and is always well used, but the issues we’ve been having with the floor have become more of a pressing issue for lots of our groups.
"Our keep fit and dance class members have found it increasingly uncomfortable to use, while the cracks have impacted on the quality of the overall environment that we can offer.
"Replacing it would have been a significant challenge to the finances for a small community organisation like ours and would have required a great deal of fundraising work, so we’re very grateful to OnPath Energy for stepping up to help us once again.
"The new floor has made such a difference to the feeling in the room, with everyone that’s been in there saying how much more comfortable it is to be in there, and we hoping that this word of mouth will encourage even more local people and groups to make use of what we have to offer.
"The Moor House Wind Farm fund has been instrumental in a number of important projects in and around the village over the last few years, as well as within the village hall itself, and the positive impact that they’ve made through our building will be felt for many years to come."
The old concrete floor, in place for 30 years, had become worn and cracked despite repeated repairs.
The new vinyl flooring covers 124 square metres and was installed by local contractor Steve Hall.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, including from guests at the hall’s first wedding reception since the upgrade.
The association hopes the new floor will attract even more bookings and help expand its calendar of events.
This latest grant follows a series of improvements made possible by the Moor House Wind Farm fund.
Two years ago, a £3,843 grant helped purchase 150 padded stacking chairs.
In 2019, a £6,600 grant funded a new LED lighting system.
A further £3,000 supported renovations to the hall’s popular coffee lounge, which serves dozens of residents, walkers, and cyclists each morning and offers panoramic views of the countryside and wind farm.
Mr Murphy said: "The hall is very much the focal point for village life and is always well used."
Sadberge Village Hall will mark its 60th anniversary next year and currently welcomes around 1,000 visitors each month.
Other organisations that have benefited from the Moor House Wind Farm fund include Age UK North Yorkshire & Darlington, Bishopton and Sadberge Parish Councils, Great Stainton Parish Meeting, The Bread and Butter Thing, and Firthmoor & District Community Association.
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Tom Chaplin, partnership and community manager at OnPath Energy, said: "The hall is at the heart of community life in Sadberge, and its trustees do everything they can to deliver the best possible facilities for local residents and visitors.
"The turbines of the Moor House Wind Farm that can be seen from the village hall are directly responsible for generating revenues that have supported lots of different local projects and has created considerable community value that will last for decades."
Community organisations located near the Moor House Wind Farm can enquire about funding by contacting the fund manager on 0191 378 6342 or by emailing apply@onpathcommunityfund.co.uk to check eligibility.