ADDINGHAM Parish Council, along with the village’s community library and Addingham Civic Society, celebrated the opening of its new community facility - the Addingham Hub - on Saturday.

The hub has been created in the newly renovated Old School, a Grade II listed building in the centre of the village. It houses the library on the ground floor and a community space on the floor above. This will be used as an information, heritage and archive centre, offering a meeting space for community groups and drop-in activities.

The official opening attracted large crowds including representatives of various funding bodies, the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Cllr Doreen Lee, local MP John Grogan, the Mayor of Ilkley Town Council, Cllr Mark Stidworthy, as well as ward councillors, parish councillors and chairman of the Addingham Library trustees.

Chairman of Addingham Parish Council Cllr Catherine Coates gave a presentation at the event. She said: “The council is so proud to be opening the Old School again today. We are immensely grateful to our funders and supporters, and want to thank everyone who has helped us get to this point. You’re seeing the end result of a huge amount of work by so many people over such a long time, but you’re also seeing the beginning of a new project – the development of our new community hub. We will be continuing to work on our plans to grow our vision for how it can be used for the benefit of the village and for the enjoyment of our many visitors.”

Cllr Doreen Lee, said: “I am pleased to be here to see this lovely new public space and I wish you well in developing your plans to use it to offer new services for your local community.”

The full project has cost some £160,000 to date. Grant funds and donations of over £135,000 were raised by the Parish Council and Library and the Parish Council earmarked capital funding of £50,000.

The project’s main grant funders were the National Lottery Community Fund, the Garfield Weston Anniversary Fund and the EU LEADER scheme, and representatives from these bodies attended the opening.

Phillipa Charles, director of the Garfield Weston fund said: “The Trustees and I are delighted that Addingham Community Library was awarded a grant in recognition of the wonderful work that you are doing to support your local community and we send you our very best wishes for the future and look forward to learning more about you over the coming years.”

Alex Ferrier, for the National Lottery Community Fund said: “It’s fantastic to be here today, and see what the funding provided by National Lottery players can achieve, as it is their ticket purchases which finance our support for good causes like this new community hub.”

Sally Hinton, of regeneration agency Pennine Prospects said: “The South Pennines LEADER Local Action Group is delighted to have been able to support this excellent project. Not only has it given an historic building a new lease of life, but it has also created a valuable community space with modern IT equipment, meeting rooms and exhibition space. This is an investment in the future of the whole village.”