IT was a proud moment for Carleton villager Eric Neal when the ribbon was cut to officially open the community's recently refurbished ancient village hall.

His hard work over the past year or more had secured sufficient grants to cover the £60,000 needed so the hall could have a desperately needed facelift.

A total of £30,000 was obtained from European funding, Yorventure gave £10,000 and the Countryside Agency £9,000. The village contributed £8,000 and the balance came from North Yorkshire County Council and Craven District Council.

Now there's no reason why the 300-year-old building, reputed to be the oldest village hall in the country, shouldn't be standing in another 300 years and continuing to be the focal point for village activities.

Mr Neal, the village hall chairman, survived near-drowning under a sea of paperwork and red-tape in order to secure funding.

The alternative was closure which would have meant the village would have lost its community centre. Many groups use the hall and would have had nowhere else to go if the doors had been closed.

"The building had got very unsafe and it was looking as if we would have to shut it down," said Mr Neal.

He explained that around three years ago the village hall committee had applied for lottery funding. At that time money was not available for village hall projects and the application was rejected.

"I believed that you should keep on trying if something is worth going for and last year I began making inquiries about applying to other bodies," he said.

Carleton resident and professional historian Sue Wrathmell has spent a great deal of time uncovering many fascinating details about the hall's past.

She said today's village hall was relatively new compared to the length of time the building had been there.

Its original use was a tithe barn, and was used to store the 'tithe' or one tenth of the local farms' yearly food crops. The building was owned by the church and the tithe was used for its maintenance.

It was eventually to become a school for girls and infants in 1853.

"Carleton already had a school of course. In 1709 the vicar's daughter, Elizabeth Wilkinson, left funds and property in her will for the founding of a school.

"Then the people of the village were farmers and traders and memories of the horrors of the Civil War were only two generations before - not much more than our knowledge of the Second World War today. It was for boys only and stood to the east end of the church," said Mrs Wrathmell.

Later a greater need for a larger school became apparent as the population of Carleton grew and the tithe barn was converted.

When the present Carleton Endowed School was built in 1878, the converted building remained as an infants' school.

In the 1960s the infants' school closed and the building was handed over to the village for use by the community as a hall.

Today it is the hub of local activity where organisations such as the WI and playgroup hold their meetings and functions. Carpet bowls and line dancing is held here as well as the over 60s group, whist drives and parties.

Its recent decay was a great cause of concern to the village. If the hall was not restored there would have been nowhere for the local organisations to gather socially.

Mr Neal was helped greatly in his quest for funding by Caroline Taukulis, environment development officer with Craven District Council.

She helped co-ordinate the funding applications and added: "It was Mr Neal who put together all the applications. On several occasions I sent him to hell and back with all the forms and paperwork he had to fill in and send off."

But all the hard work has paid off and the former tithe barn and later the local primary school now has new mullion windows, a repaired roof and a new disabled toilet and storeroom.

"I hope the hall will continue to be used by everyone. Hopefully the young ones can also be encouraged to use it more so its future is secure," said Mr Neal.

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