CHURCH leaders in Old Cleeve have secured a £10,000 financial boost to help bring facilities at the centuries old St Andrew’s Church into the 21st century.

The award from the Big Lottery Fund will go towards a £20,000 scheme to upgrade kitchen and toilet facilities at the adjoining church room and make the building fully accessible for disabled people.

Organisers hope the improvements will also lead to an expansion of activities in the building, which already hosts monthly soup lunches, coffee mornings and classes.

“We are very, very happy to have got this grant,” said the rector the Rev Kenneth Cross.

“The existing facilities have served us well over many decades but these improvements will allow us to serve the local community even better.”

Fundraising to meet the shortfall for the project is continuing but money generated from the soup lunches is already in the pot.

Old Cleeve Parochial Church Council secretary Judi Stabb said work was scheduled to start within the next fortnight and was expected to take around four weeks to complete.

“We are absolutely delighted to receive this award from the Big Lottery Fund,” she said.

“The church room is already well used but although there is disabled access to the hall itself, there is currently no disabled access to the toilets.

“We hope these improvements will mean that more people are able to come along and take advantage of the activities on offer and that, hopefully, we will be able to expand those activities.

“The soup lunches, in particular, are very popular, with up to 40 people attending.

“The newly fitted kitchen will make life a lot easier for the volunteer cooks and give opportunities for other events.

“And having accessible toilets will also enable more people to attend.”

The Old Cleeve scheme is among more than 80 community projects across the South West to secure grants of between £300 and £10,000 in the latest round of awards worth a total of more than £2.7 million.