A much-loved village memorial hall has received a �1,600 boost from Breckland Council despite having to shelve ambitious plans for an extension.

Hardingham village hall committee had hoped to raise �222,000 for a project that included more storage space, a self-contained meeting room and improved kitchen facilities.

Users of the first world war memorial hall, opened in 1920, include a playgroup, art group, the WI, and book and music group and Hardingham textile group.

However, the committee believed the state of its kitchen facilities reduced the number of lettings it could attract.

Breckland Council approved �20,000 match funding in February 2011, but the committee was unable to raise enough additional funding, and scaled back its plans.

The committee has now finished improvements to the kitchen and storage space, and will now do some work on the lobby.

The council last week approved a reduced contribution of �1,587.55.

Committee member Lynn Whitwell said: 'That's great news for us, it really is.

'I think it's shown us that although the extension would have been a great facility, we are a small community and we have met the needs of our users by scaling down and have got a very nice kitchen and extra storage space.

'It's a very precious building for us and it's very well used.'