TRUSTEES at a church in Marston have begun a significant refurbishment of their church hall after securing a “sizeable donation” from a parishioner.

Work on St Nicholas Church hall began on January 5 after a grant received from the Government was added to by a generous disabled church-goer.

Marston Church Properties, the charitable organisation that runs the hall, was given a £12,000 grant by the Landfill Communities Fund in December to complete improvement works.

But £13,000 was still required to carry out the renovations to the toilet facilities and provide essential disabled access for elderly users of the village hall.

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Church warden and trustee of the church Geoff Hale said: “We wanted to put in new toilets that included baby changing facilities, as well as disabled access because we have a diverse group of users who hire out the hall.

“The church hall is used by young groups such as the Brownies and older groups such as the Marston over-50s club, so disabled toilets would benefit a number of users greatly.”

A donation of £10,000 was given by parishioner and retired aircraft designer Dr Michael Bruton, with the rest made up of offerings from the trustees’ fund and the parish council.

The 74-year-old president of Disabled Ramblers said: “I have worshipped regularly at St Nicholas Church.

“I am now a full-time wheelchair user and I found the lack of an accessible toilet in the church hall a real handicap. I approached church warden Geoff Hale and asked whether this deficiency could be rectified.

“I offered to pay a substantial portion of the cost myself. I am grateful to Geoff for moving this project forward and the hard work put in to make it a reality.”

Work on the church hall is expected to finish in early February. Arlington Drive resident Mr Hale, 61, said: “The donation from Dr Bruton is incredibly generous and allows us to achieve the work to modernise the hall.

“Without this donation we could not afford to go ahead with these works.

“Hopefully the more modern facilities will help some of the groups and increase the number of groups that use the hall.”

Gill Hale, the wife of the church warden and founder of the Marston baby and toddlers group, said: “I think the baby changing facilities will definitely make a big difference to our group.

“Previously we didn’t have any facilities and young mothers with newborn babies found it hard to change nappies. I’m sure this will make the group more popular.”

Marston Over-50s Club secretary Jane Madden, 66, said: “We have two people in wheelchairs who will definitely use the new toilet facilities. It’s going to be really useful for our group.”

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