CONSTRUCTION of a new village hall in Cullingworth is expected to start early in the New Year following the award of a £244,000 grant.

The cash from the Big Lottery Fund is the last piece of the financial jigsaw to ensure the £860,000 hall can be built.

Cullingworth Village Hall Renewal Committee heard this month that their application for ‘gap funding’ from the lottery’s Power to Change Business in the Community Fund had been accepted.

Renewal Committee chairman Jill Logan said: “This is absolutely fantastic news for the village. We are so pleased to now actually start the construction of the new building.

"It’s been a very long 4½ years getting to this stage, but hopefully we’ll be having our Big Grand Opening Party this time next year!”

The Renewal Committee will continue to raise money to fit-out the new building, with initiatives such as a Buy-A-Brick campaign.

Bricks cost £10 each and the donor stipulates the ‘name’, and a commissioned piece of artwork including all the names will be hung in the new hall.

The new building in Lodge Street will be a replacement for the ageing and overcrowded existing village hall in Station Road.

The new building will have a permanent café in the foyer, a dedicated space for Cullingworth Preschool, and extra space to hire for local groups and including a large hall and a second smaller hall with catering kitchen.

The rest of the £860,000 funding has come from the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Bernard Sunley Foundation, donations, the Village Hall’s cash reserves, and £411,000 of section 106 money from the David Wilson Homes development at Manywells.

The Renewal Committee said the support and encouragement from local people and businesses in Cullingworth had been tremendous, and there had also been exceptional help and support from local councillors and officers at Bradford Council.