The village hall in St Newlyn East officially re-opened on Sunday following a six month £225,000 refurbishment.

The community gathered to have a look at the new upgrades and green energy installations at the re-launch, which include new solar panels, air source heat pumps, and EV charging points.

The ribbon was cut at the opening ceremony by Kevin Morris, the grandson of Eric Dyer, whose idea it was to create a village hall in 1978, 40 years ago.

The original and new committee members were among those in attendance along with Truro and Falmouth MP Jayne Kirkham.

The grand opening was held as a free event open to the whole community, which included free refreshments, a raffle, craft stalls, information on user groups and the council waste recycling roadshow.

Entertainment was provided by the St Dennis Ukulele band and the C-Birds shanty group.

The improvements aim to ensure the village hall becomes a sustainable asset for the community to last well into the future.

The scheme was funded through £195,000 of levelling-up money, with additional support from Action with Communities in Rural England, Garfield Western, Burnard Sunley Foundation, Scottish Power and St Newlyn East Parish Council.

Trustee Roz Symonds said: “The grand re-opening was wholeheartedly supported by the whole of the community with an extremely large turnout.

“It bought the community together whilst showcasing the installation of essential green energy elements for our community building.

“This essential work will ensure that the hall will be available for everyone to use for generations to come.

“The hall has had no major works done to it for the last 40 years and will not need anything doing to it for at least the next 40.

“This modernised hall now has green energy elements that will provide clean energy for all users.

“It has modernised the old Hawkins Rowse Room into an up-to-date work hub suite which can be used by individuals or groups for meetings, presentations or team's meetings.

“The room now has a projector wall instead if a blackboard, a modern kitchenette, comfortable seating together with a sit to stand desk and clever storage solutions.

“The fire alarm system for the hall was also upgraded along with the halls electrics.

“This project symbolises not only a commitment to the community but to the environment as well as honouring the rich history of our hall.”

The hall was first thought of by Eric Dyer in 1978 and was supported by the original committee. There was a two-year building project with fundraising, which included every resident “buying a brick for £1.”

The hall was built over the next five years and opened in 1980.

The main hall is unique in the fact that it is the size of a badminton court with an additional stage and kitchen and a side office room suitable for 25 to 30 people.

The initial aim in 1978 was to provide a hall that could be hired out for badminton, pantomimes and parties for everyone to have the opportunity to hire and use privately.

The hall has held bingo and beetle drives, musical concerts alongside many family celebrations including birthday parties, weddings and wedding anniversaries.

Roz said: “The hall unfortunately was becoming unsustainable to run with the rising costs of overheads and when the cost of oil dramatically rose recently, we were going to have to increase the hire costs.

“This however was going to be a short-term fix, so the current committee agreed that we needed to address the issue.”

The committee saw the opportunity to ensure the hall’s survival and so Roz Symonds and Jane Yeomans applied to The Community Levelling Up Program run by Cornwall Council in 2022.

Roz said: “Due to the huge number of applications we were unsuccessful on the first round however on the committees second application we were successful.

“The Our Hall, Our Future project was created and involved two and a half years of hard work it was quite a task to complete.

“We held numerous community consultations, fundraisers, alongside the mammoth task of securing the quotes for work and procurement processes.

“We secured an additional grant from the Community Capacity Fund of £11,750 which helped pay for the architect, planning permission, asbestos survey and environmental surveys.

“Once we found out that we were successful in securing the grant from the levelling up program the real hard work began.

“A community consultation was carried out to work out what was needed for the hall, and this highlighted main problem and that was that the hall was "cold and unwelcoming.

“The Our Hall, Our Future project was created to futureproof and save the hall from not being able to survive the next 40 years.

“Our Hall, Our Future project included the huge task of re-roofing the hall with a new thermally insulated roof which could have solar panels attached to it.

“To install solar panels and a battery to capture the excess energy, air source heating to replace the old oil filled monster of a heating system, to create a welcoming foyer and to refurbish the old side room into a modern meeting room versatile to cater for independent workers, presentations, meetings or small parties, fitness room for meditation, yoga or Pilates.

“We certainly have levelled up.”