£700,000 village hall extension near Market Drayton unveiled
The £700,000 extension to a village hall has been officially unveiled.
The new-look Audlem Public Hall, near Market Drayton, was revealed at a ceremony.
Hundreds of people from Audlem and surrounding villages gathered to see the High Sheriff of Cheshire, Sarah Callander Beckett, MP Antoinette Sandbach, leader of Cheshire East Council Councillor Rachel Bailey and parish council chairman Heather Jones open the annexe.
The scheme has provided facilities for the youth club, changing rooms for sports groups and a fitness room in the village.
Recently Sport England gave £10,000 towards the costs of the equipment for the new community gym.
Roland Hall, chairman of the Audlem Public Hall Annexe(APHAx) committee, said: "We raised over £100,000 in the village towards the cost. Obviously the lottery helped but it is a tremendous amount and shows how strong the community is.
"We have been well supported in so many ways.
"It is my belief the annexe will bring people of all ages tremendous enjoyment. That is the idea of it. Also, to the well-being of the village.
"I have been proud to have been chairman of the APHAx team. It has been an enjoyable but challenging task. I thank all members of the team – they have all worked so hard."
Mrs Callander Beckett said: "I have been honoured to have been invited here. It is an exceptional public space in Audlem.
"When so many rural villages are struggling for survival, with dwindling populations, rural isolation and loss of key services, Audlem stands as an exemplar of a vibrant, sustainable and energetic community."
APHAx had also hoped to secure money from the Aviva Community Funding competition to help pay for the scheme.
But it failed to get enough votes from the public to support the project.
In order to win funding, enough people had to log on to the Aviva website and vote for the project.
The committee, which has been working for more than three years on the project, said the annexe is designed to be multi-use and all the groups have worked together to maximise the space available.
