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.

The project 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.

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