Trustees of Lampeter’s Victoria Hall are celebrating the news that they have secured funding totalling £160,000 to develop it as a community arts venue.

Transition Llambed Development Trust, which manages the hall, has learnt that an application to the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 has been approved.

The funding is intended to strengthen local arts provision and provide creative and economic opportunity within the town and linked rural communities.

Lampeter Town Council, Ceredigion County Council and TLDT provided match funding.

Over the summer, Transition Llambed will be turning the lobby into a smart box office area, giving the hall interior and café area a facelift, providing mobile seating and staging units, doing up the backstage area and installing improved lighting and sound.

Trustees say current community use, classes, community events, and the People’s Market will not be affected by the refurbishment programme.

Gary Thorogood, Transition Llambed Development Trust chair, said: “We are very excited that this funding gives us the opportunity to take a big step forward towards creating a community venue that Lampeter can once again be proud of.”

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