ONLY a couple of years after it looked like Westwood's Parish Rooms would have to be closed to the public, a £150,000 refurbishment project is now progressing nicely.

In late 2013, the Diocese of Salisbury was looking to sell the rectory of the village's St Mary the Virgin church as there was no vicar living there.

The sale could have meant the loss of the Parish Rooms, which are next to the rectory.

However, villagers managed to convince the diocese to keep the community facility, which serves Westwood and Wingfield, and an appeal was launched to raise £150,000 to retain, update and extend the Rooms.

The renovation work, which began in May, has involved knocking down the old kitchen and toilets and replacing them with new, bigger ones as well as adding disabled toilets and wheelchair access.

"This is a great opportunity to make this a really great venue for the village and there is quite a lot of excitement and anticipation over it too," said trustee David Chalmers.

"The village really got behind this project, so much so that they raised around £25,000 towards the refurbishment. The rest has been from grants and the parish council, who have been exceedingly helpful.

"I do not know what would have happened if it was sold but I am very glad that it is not going to happen. They said as long as you can make it a viable operation, you can have it and that is what we are doing.

"We are hoping it will be a very popular venue. One of our trustees is an events manager and she has really got her teeth into it so it is quite exciting.

"Hopefully we can have lots of different events there, from parties, to live performances, to baptisms and drinks for weddings."

Earlier this month, work to create the permanent disabled access at the church gate began, along with the tiling the roof and fitting the kitchen and toilets, whilst keeping the building's original Victorian layout.

"Part of the contract agreement was to supply disabled access to the church and hall which was not the case before, so this is an important addition," added Mr Chalmers, who was a churchwarden at St Mary's for many years.

"We are looking to hold a celebratory event to mark the completion of the work just after Easter, even though it will open in February, which is something to look forward to."