A VILLAGE hall in Keighley which urgently needs to update its facilities has been given a funding boost of £6,000 from Keighley Town Council’s Oak Fund.

Long Lee and Thwaites Brow Village Hall has kitchen and toilet facilities which were installed over 40 years ago when it was built as the local school nursery.

Although the hall has disabled access from outside, its interior facilities inside do not meet disability regulations. The kitchen and toilets are currently inaccessible to wheelchair users.

A spokesman for the village hall committee said: "The success of this application followed a presentation made to the Finance Committee of Keighley Town Council.

"We're most grateful to the town council for assisting us in being able to take this great step forward in making the building more useable to the wider community.

"We'll now be seeking further funding from other sources to enable us to reach the £15,000 needed to complete the refurbishment.

"We're a relatively new committee consisting totally of volunteers. We're looking to upgrade the hall facilities to make it more attractive to our existing user groups and potential new ones.

"And we intend to ensure the village hall remains a focal point for local activities.

"Our committee is organising several events throughout 2019 aimed at promoting community spirit and involving our ‘hard to reach’ members of the community.

"We lease the building from Bradford Council and have total responsibility for all its maintenance costs and all its running expenses – insurances, energy, fire prevention checks etc.

"These costs must be covered before we can even consider investing in improving the facilities."