A NEW kitchen has opened in Netheravon thanks to supermarket and community funding.

The Phoenix Hall are proud to welcome a new kitchen to their site in Netheravon's High Street, built to accommodate for a mixture of events including weddings and conferences.

The new kitchen that took three years of fundraising to come to life includes a six-ring gas cooker with double oven, stainless steel and laminate work surfaces, a fridge and fridge-freezer.

Kitchen facilities and utensils can also be used by people using the hall if they do not wish to hire a caterer for their event.

Alan Wood, secretary of the Phoenix Hall Management Committee said: "This village hall can now offer wedding parties, funeral wakes, birthday parties, seminars and business meetings, a kitchen suitable for cooking meals for up to 80 people.

"With new crockery, cutlery and glassware plus luxury seating around circular tables in the newly painted main hall, we hope that people will enjoy using our new facilities, particularly at Christmas and New Year."

Several organisations in the community took part in making the kitchen a reality, including RGV Netheravon, Men's Shed, ASPIRE Ltd and donors from the public.

Grants were provided by Tidworth Area Board, landlords of the hall, Netheravon Parish Council and Fittleton Parish Council, as well as Amesbury and Durrington Tesco stores who awarded the project £2,000 following their Bags of Help scheme.

Alan added: "The new luxury kitchen is the culmination of more than three years of worry for project manager Roger Hayward about how to pay for this superb project.

"Thanks to the £2000 grant from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme we were able to finish the work and fire up the cooker."