VOLUNTEERS at Aberporth Village Hall are celebrating the news that they have been awarded the coveted Investing in Volunteers award by the Welsh Council for Voluntary Action.

Volunteers – who help run the community fridge, community garden, recycled clothes rail and computer club – are part of a 25-strong volunteer task force that are an essential component of the £1.3m ‘Heart of the Community’ project to rebuild the village hall.

It has already attracted substantial grants from the National Lottery and Welsh government and work is ongoing to get the final funding in place to enable building work to start before Christmas.

The community fridge – along with all the other projects – has been running from Canolfan Dyffryn while work continues to rebuild the old hall.

“This is an amazing achievement,” said hall committee chair Mike Harwood. “The Investing in Volunteers award is the gold standard for volunteering.

“Our volunteers have brought enthusiasm and energy to the project. We literally could not do it without them.”

Work on applying for the Investing in Volunteers Award started last autumn.

The hall was assessed against six quality areas and proved to excel in all aspects of working with its volunteers.

Community co-ordinator Nic King who organises the volunteer rota said she was thrilled at the news.

“Nothing is too much trouble for them – our volunteers really are the heart of the community,” she added.

Future plans include expanding activities at Canolfan Dyffryn and organising a summer of fundraising events.

Hall trustees also have their fingers crossed that their grant application to Volunteering Wales will bear fruit next month, enabling them to build and expand the volunteer team in readiness for the opening of the new hall.

If you want to join the Heart of the Community team contact Nic at avhcommunity.fridge@gmail.com or call 07368327654.

You can also follow events at www.aberporthvillagehall.co.uk and the Canolfan Dyffryn facebook page.