FACILITIES in a village church hall have been upgraded thanks to a district council grant.

The outdated kitchen which was installed 25-years-ago in Brompton Methodist Church Hall has been replaced with help from Hambleton District Council’s Making a Difference grant scheme.

Church Secretary, Christine Martin, said: “Although we have an excellent hall, our kitchen and water heating system was letting us down and not fit for purpose.

“The members of the church were keen to make the kitchen environmental friendly as it is already a Fairtrade church– and we are grateful for the help from the district council which has enabled us to do that.”

Hambleton District Council provided £5,000 of the £12,000 scheme with the rest of the funding coming from village hall funds.

The money has been used to buy a more efficient boiler, a dishwasher to reduce water use, blinds to reduce the amount of heat escaping through the window and recycling bins.

District Councillor Isobel Sanderson, who supported the application, added: “It is always good to see that our small grants can make a real difference to communities across Hambleton. This project is typical of that – the committee had the match funding to be able to install the new kitchen and it is already proving popular with users.”