Delight as village wins lottery cash

by Jane Honey

RESIDENTS in Princetown are this week celebrating, following the announcement the village is to receive a huge Lottery grant of almost half a million pounds. The £418,456 award is from the Big Lottery Fund’s community buildings programme — it means a new village hall for Princetown can finally become a reality, 20 years after the old building was demolished. The new £1.5-million Princetown Village Centre will create a community building that will bring together vital services and facilities in one central location. It will provide access to the CAB, IT learning, a doctor’s surgery, library, child creche facilities and leisure activities including yoga, aerobics, table tennis, badminton and short mat bowls. It will be built on a site behind the village primary school, enjoying stunning views out over the open moor. The community centre project has been spearheaded by the High Moorland Community Action group, a charity which has been working to rejuvenate the isolated Dartmoor village, which has for many years suffered from a lack of facilities and poor public transport. Jenny Coleman, community development manager at High Moorland Community Action, said she was ‘absolutely delighted’ by the funding announcement. ‘To replace the village hall is a tremendous boost to the community,’ she said. ‘Having a large indoor centre like this will mean we can provide indoor sports, which is important in the sort of climate we have in Princetown, and people will be able to get together to enjoy a huge variety of different cultural and social activities.’ Jenny said the campaign to build a new village centre for Princetown had been in existence for many years. The old village hall had been demolished in 1988, leaving the village without any large central public meeting place. ‘For years and years, the only places the community has had to get together have been the pubs and churches and both these have problems in that they are not always appropriate for certain sections of the community,’ said Jenny. ‘When I first started with HMCA seven years ago there was a feasibility study for a new community centre in the park area, so the community had already been trying for a very long time to get something done — this particular project has been ongoing for nearly five years.’ Jenny said the new centre would be financially sustainable, as it would receive rental from outside bodies for providing facilities for doctors’ surgeries and the library. ‘And because we have this fantastic hall, and the most amazing views from this huge glass wall, we are hoping to attract people from outside the community, who could use it for black tie events, weddings, conferences etc, which would also bring in ongoing funding. It’s going to be a really beautiful building that I hope people will really want to come to,’ she said. Jenny said it was hoped work could start on the hall in March — HMCA was now anxiously keeping fingers crossed that the final large chunk of funding required for the project — £100,000 — would be forthcoming from the Tudor Trust. A decision on HMCA’s application was expected as the Times went to press. West Devon Council member Isla McPhie, who represents Princetown, said the Lottery funding announcement was ‘fantastic news’. I am really delighted we have been awarded this money. I think it will bring Princetown forward in leaps and bounds — it will be a real boost to the community. I am so pleased because people have worked so hard for a long time for this,’ she said. Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund Head of the South West region, said the new Princetown Village Centre would be a valuable asset to the community. ‘Buildings like these really are at the centre of daily life, bringing people together and increasing community participation and improving relationships,’ he said.