This is the story as carried by the Berwickshire today Big Lottery windfall for Hutton
IT was third time lucky for Hutton Village Hall committee, who have secured £195,000 of Big Lottery Fund money towards building a new hall on the site of the existing building. Funding for the £328,000 project needs to be in place within six months, and the committee has so far raised £93,000 from fund raising events, such as coffee mornings, dances and events, financial contributions from Scottish Borders Council and the Robertson Trust, plus the lottery grant, leaving £40,000 to find from fund raising and other funding sources.Announcing the successful application to the Big Lottery Fund Developing Communities Programme, having been knocked back twice, Joan Purves secretary of the hall committee said: 'We are all delighted with our fantastic news and are grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for this award. "It has been a long and difficult journey to achieve the success we have today and our perseverance has now paid off."We still have some funding to find but the new hall is now just within reach and we hope to start building work in the summer.'We can now look forward to our brand new hall and a new range of services and activities for the community.'The hall committee has been supported throughout their applications by Scottish Borders Council and the Scottish Borders Rural Partnership, and Joan added: "The committee is very grateful for the help and support of Jean Robertson, the council's lottery officer and Helen Ford of the Rural Resource Centre.'Jean and Helen supported us through the many months of applications and assessments. They have been instrumental to our success.'
After two unsuccessful lottery applications and an unsuccessful planning application to have the hall re-sited to land opposite Hutton Church, the hall committee persevered with plans to replace the present hall with a new building on the same site and are finally getting close to seeing the scheme come to fruition.Plans for the new Hutton Hall have been on display for members of the public to view, the application to Scottish Borders Council's planning department having been made by Hutton and Paxton Community Council, saving Hutton Hall Committee 50% of the planning application fee.If there are any objections to the plans the application may have to be withdrawn and resubmitted by the hall committee as the community council will be unable to comment on the application in their name if objections are raised.
To celebrate the success of their lottery application and to continue fund raising for the hall, the village hall committee is holding a coffee evening, this evening, Thursday, May 12, at 7.30pm.Everyone is welcome along to join in the celebrations and to hear more about the plans for the future. 12 May 2005
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