A COMMUNITY centre that had fallen into disrepair has been given a new lease of life thanks to the generosity of fundraisers and local businesses.

Trefoil House in Wroughton has been used for Girl Guide meetings and other community events for several years.

However, the building was dirty, cramped and didn't meet modern health and safety standards so volunteers rallied to bring it back up to scratch with an ambitious restoration project

After many months of fundraising and a few weeks of refurbishment, the centre has reopened, bigger and better than ever before.

Howden's Kitchens & Joinery fitted the new extended kitchen with funds from their community grant scheme in November and McDonald's redecorated the hall, supplied new lighting and fitted new storage cupboards through its community project scheme in the summer.

Brian Allison Building Contractors took care of the restructuring work.

Representatives of local community groups came along to celebrate the centre's new look.

Sharon Yeates, district commissioner for Wroughton and Chiseldon, formally welcomed everyone to the re-opening and thanked everyone who supported the project and made it possible.

She said: "It feels fantastic, it's amazing.

"Everyone who fundraised for us has been invited here to celebrate.

"We were very lucky, the Wroughton Community Trust gave us £4,000 after we applied for a grant,

"That took us over the finish line, it would have taken us another two years to raise the money otherwise, and McDonald's' help also made a huge difference."

A management committee of volunteers runs the facility as a guide hall for the benefit of the local group of girl guides and other groups like the cricket club.

The ribbon at the re-opening ceremony was cut by Liz Radford and Tracey Warrren, joint County Commissioners for Girlguiding Wiltshire North.

Sharon added: "We've also had new fire doors installed and a new cooker... it's been a big undertaking but we kept plugging away at it.

"We get fantastic support from the council and local trusts and committees.

"We could never have all the girl guides in the kitchen for cooking activities because it was old, tiny and dated, but now it's spacious."

Vicky Spiers, assistant project manager, was very glad to see her dreams become reality.

She said: "I'm so relieved, it's been a long time coming but it's what I visualised from day one.

"This place was first opened four years ago, we're still raising money to keep it going and I've been on-site every day.

"This has to be an attractive and usable space that people want to pay for and hire so we can draw in business and compete with other facilities that are available in Wroughton."