AFTER almost 50 years, Garsington residents have finally raised the cash to revamp and extend their village hall.

Oxfordshire County Council has donated £10,000 to the cause, the last piece of the £246,000 funding puzzle.

Work will start next month and project leaders hope the refurbished hall will finally be opened in February 2012.

Garsington Village Hall management committee member Adrian Townsend has been working on the project for about 10 years.

He said: “I would describe it as like pushing a piece of wool up a hill.

“You get so far and you think you have got there and then something else happens.

“The whole process of renewal has been a long running saga of almost 50 years.

“I am still holding my breath that it will actually happen.”

But he said he was “absolutely delighted” the cash was finally in place and said a building firm had already been hired for the refurbishment and extension.

He said: “The village needs a community centre that it can use and a good place for people to go.

“The present one is a lovely old historic building but the condition of it is very bad. It is practically falling down.

“But we still get a lot of use from it and the demand has gone up.”

He said the centre is currently used by the parish council, a drama group, for quiz nights and band practices.

But he said the work will mean even more groups using the hall, including a youth club, film society and pensioners’ dining club.

He said: “I hope it will become a focal point for the community and bring the community together.”

As well as the county council cash, which was agreed on Monday, money has come from a wide variety of sources.

Garsington Parish Council gave £90,000, which it has been steadily putting aside for the last 50 years, and the community donated £10,000.

On top of this, South Oxfordshire District Council has put in £90,000 and Wren, which distributes tax credit money to communities living near landfill sites, has donated £50,000.

Garsington was one of 14 communities across Oxfordshire to receive a county council grant, from a total pot of £66,637.

Judith Heathcoat, the county’s cabinet member for safer and stronger communities, said village halls helped strengthen communities.

She added: “These grants are about making sure communities have facilities they can use.”

The grants are due to be rubber- stamped on September 15.