When a village lost two shops, its post office and one of its two pubs, residents felt their community resources were draining away.

Samantha De La Querra

So they resolved to revitalise their village.

Four years later the villagers in Tackley, near Kidlington, have succeeeded, by opening a new village hall -- complete with a shop, post office and cafe.

David Cameron, MP for Witney and West Oxfordshire, and Barry Norton, chairman of West Oxfordshire District Council, opened the refurbished hall at a special ceremony on Saturday.

The hall now also has computer equipment, a modernised kitchen, toilets, bar and changing rooms.

Barbara Vaughan, co-leader of the Tackley All in One development project, said: "It's taken four years of hard work and a lot of fundraising to reach a happy conclusion. We did feel our community resources were draining away when the shops, post office and one pub closed."

The development has cost about £400,000 with villagers raising about £80,000.

The remainder came from grants from Oxfordshire County Council, West Oxfordshire District Council, Tackley Parish Council, the European Union, South East England Development Agency, the Countryside Agency and others.

Mrs Vaughan added: "We estimate about 150 people in Tackley were involved in one way or another.

"We could not achieve what we have without their support and I particularly could not have managed without my co-leader Gill Withers."