VILLAGERS whose church hall was destroyed by fire last year can see designs for a £500,000 replacement this weekend.

Supporters were left devastated after St John’s Church hall, in Meadowfield, near Durham, was ruined in a suspected arson attack last March.

Plans for a £500,000 successor will be publicly unveiled at a consultation event at the church on Saturday.

Two options were considered, but supporters are backing a modern, single-storey design, including a large hall, kitchen, office and disabled toilet.

Residents can vote on the materials and colours to be used in the building, which would be on the now-cleared former church hall site, off St John’s Road.

Of the money needed, around £316,000 will come from the insurance payout, £18,500 has been pledged in grants – including £500 from the Catherine Cookson Trust – and the community has raised around £4,000; leaving about £160,000 still to find.

Further grant applications are planned, plus more community fundraising.

Lesley Baxter, treasurer of the parochial church council, said: “There’s definitely a need in the village.

“People have said to me they wish the hall was still there. From the amount of people we’ve had coming to events, there’s definitely support for it.”

However, grant-making bodies will want to see evidence for demand and support for any new venue in the number of people attending Saturday’s consultation event, which runs from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.

A fundraising event will be held at the nearby Meadowfield sports centre on Saturday, February 21, from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

There will be children’s entertainment, a bouncy castle, tombola, raffles, craft stalls and refreshments.

The original hall was built in 1911 and in regular use until its heating system failed a few months before the fire.

The blaze broke out on the morning of Sunday, March 23 – Ms Baxter’s birthday. She was told of the fire by a friend but the building was already ruined by the time she arrived at the scene, at 9am.

To support the fundraising campaign, call Ms Baxter on 07846-542035, email Lesleypb@aol.com or visit facebook.com/stjohnschurchhallmeadowfield