BUILDING work on a new village hall in Arkholme looks set to start in the New Year following a successful £321,000 National Lottery bid.

Villagers who have been working on plans for a single-storey community hall for the last two years were delighted with the grant announced by the National Lottery Charities Board.

David Smith, secretary of the village hall committee, said the months of hard work preparing for the bid had paid off.

"The award plus the sale of the old hall, together with money from the single regeneration budget should be enough to purchase the land and start building work," he said.

The new hall, which will cost some £450,000, will be sited on the Main Street next to the village school.

Plans include a large hall for sporting and social activies, two smaller rooms for meetings, a kitchen, bar and toilet facilities.

A grant of £94,418 will also enable a project called Home-Start South Lakeland to get off the ground.

The voluntary organisation, which already operates in Barrow, Millom and Morecambe, aims to provide support, friendship and practical help to families under stress.

Anne Metcalfe, chair of the management committee, said: "The need in South Lakeland for the supportive one-to-one befriending provided by trained volunteers to young families facing family crisis and breakdown has been obvious to local health visitors and other professionals for some considerable time."

Cumbria Deaf Association, which provides services for deaf and hearing impaired people across the county, has scooped £29,028 to carry out a detailed feasibility study of its four centres.

Chief executive John Brown explained that the study would help highlight what needed to be done to bring the four buildings up to standard, and also to suggest ways in which centres could be better used.

"I am pleased the lottery board has recognised that these four buildings are potentially a valuable community asset and have given us the money to look at how we can develop them," he said.

A project which provides childcare facilities for youngsters in Barrow received a £82,285 grant.

The Busy-Bees Pre-School will use the money to buy new play equipment and to help pay the salaries of playscheme staff.