DILTON Marsh’s village hall will become the envy of neighbouring villages when it is fitted with a state-of-the-art lighting and sound system later this year.

A grant of £2,500 was approved at a Westbury area board meeting on Thursday (June 2), which will be matched by the hall’s committee to make a total of £5,000.

The modern lighting and sound system will replace the current 40-year-old system, which was fitted after hard work by Nick Pearce.

Geoff Miles, chairman of the hall’s committee, said: “It was such a relief when the grant was approved.

“The current lighting system really isn’t fit for modern day use. It was built on good will and very little money. A guy came in and had a look at it and said that 50 per cent of it is no longer safe. That’s when we realised it simply had to be replaced.

“The new lights are going to be state-of-the-art and really fun.

“Although there will be less of them, they will give off far more light and will move in time to the music.

“We run movie nights at the hall which will be improved, too. At the moment, people at the back say they cannot hear, but that will no longer be a problem.

“The sound system will be good enough for bands to use and they won’t have to bring their own one with them any longer. It will attract bigger and better acts to play here.

“It will be a really good thing for the community and will benefit all ages, from people who want to have parties in there to pantomime evenings to ballroom dancing.”

The committee hopes to have the new lighting and sound systems in place by October.