THE official opening of the new Garway Community Centre will be carried out by the High Sheriff of Herefordshire, The Reverend Lady Lisvane at 2.30pm on Saturday 7th April.

In November 2015 the Trustees of the hall were awarded a large capital grant by the Big Lottery to fund the new facility. They have also received grants from the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation, The Post Code Lottery and Awards for All.

Rural Garway has a sparse transport system and the nearest medical facilities are more than seven miles away with no public transport available. The new centre will benefit up to 800 people from the local area, in particular older people, young people and those without transport.

The current village hall built in the 1930s has served as a social centre in the past.

The new centre will provide a spacious hall suitable for Flicks in the sticks, a Heritage group, Fitness and Leisure classes, the Annual Panto, Garway live a popular live music venue and a range of sporting activities.

The new centre will in addition to a spacious hall also provide an outreach centre complete with medical examination couch where both normal medical services can be conducted and alternative medicines, a state of the art kitchen which in the medium term will be used to provide lunches to the adjacent school, café/ bar area where low cost lunches will be served for the older folk in the area , a reception desk/office and a meeting room.

The centre will also be available for wedding receptions, for which the team have already received interest, for parties and even conferences for which we already have a two day booking for this year.

The building itself is a Passivhaus build that is ecologically sustainable, very energy efficient together with solar panels will keep the building at a standard warm heat all year.

Following a hotly contested local competitive bid the design for the new centre was awarded to architects Simmonds Mills and team, based in Hereford, who have worked to a detailed design brief from the Trustees Project Management group of some 25 local people. Following a successful planning result the building contract was awarded to William Powell and sons of Hereford.

The local community had raised funds over the years for a new village centre but thanks to Big Lottery, they have achieved a great result. This facility should last for 110 to 140 years for the future generations.