Energy company E.ON has given a £8,900 grant under its SOURCE community initiative to North Nibley Village Hall in Gloucestershire to enable locals to carry out an ambitious energy efficiency makeover.

As well as fitting insulation, replacing the heating system and installing energy efficient lighting, the villagers wanted to raise awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency measures by holding a 'Green Sunday Breakfast' to launch the new energy efficient hall.

The hall's facilities have not changed since it was built in 1959, and local feedback revealed the single biggest deterrent to greater use of the hall was its inadequate heating.

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Ruth Kirkup, Hall Chairman, said: "The aim of the breakfast was to show off the hall's improvements and to get the villagers thinking about how they could put similar measures into place in their own homes.

"Over 70 people attended and many of them were surprised at how inexpensive energy saving measures can be, and we even encouraged them to pledge to cut their own energy usage by at least 20%.

"The children made collages of the hall before and after the energy makeover - showing a cold, grim and grey hall before and a bright, cosy, warm hall afterwards.

"We'd like to sincerely thank E.ON for helping us to turn the hall into a bright and snug place that people are happy to use, and add to this a 70% reduction in carbon emissions and halving our heating costs and it's a win-win project!"

(CD/JM)