A team of volunteers gave up their own time to help transform a village hall which has been a vital community asset in Staffordshire for nearly 100 years.
The group of eight tradesmen pulled together to give their time and skills for free to replace all the windows in Mayfield Memorial Hall, near Uttoxeter.
The hall's old, rotting windows were an eyesore for the community and poorly insulated so the hall's committee successfully applied for a grant of nearly £5,000 to replace them with smart double-glazing.
Earlier this month the team of tradesmen set out on their day of action, removing the old windows and replacing them with the newly-delivered units.
Graham Sowter, who co-ordinated the operation, said: "All of us are working a five or six-day week so Sunday was the only day we could all get together.
"So these chaps are giving up their only rest day and their only chance of a lie-in in order to support the village.
"I thought if we replaced 10 windows we would be doing well, but once the super team got into its stride they replaced 18 in the day, including all the biggest windows in the hall.
"Now we have just 10 small windows left to do and we hope the team can meet again over the Christmas holidays to complete the task."
Mayfield Memorial Hall bought new thermally-efficient windows with its lottery grant, which forms part of a programme of refurbishment to keep it as a community asset.
Chairman Stephen Dunn said the renovation was a big achievement for the hall, which has been serving the community for almost 100 years.
He said: "We started the refurbishment programme less than two years ago and the biggest and most immediate renovation item we faced was the renewal and replacement of our old, and in most cases, rotten wooden windows with modern double-glazed windows that will both improve the look of the hall and greatly reduce our energy costs, which at 22 per cent are the single highest costs we incur in the running of the hall.
"To help us achieve this, as well as fund-raising, we also applied to the Big Lottery Fund for a grant to pay for all the 28 windows that need replacing.
"In our application we said that we had gained generous offers of local labour both to remove the old windows and install the new ones, with local tradesmen generously giving their time for free to support the hall and their community and therefore keep the grant application to a realistic and reasonable level.
"It was that offer of labour and skills from local tradesmen that did the trick and in July this year a grant of £4,884 was gratefully received from the Big Lottery.
"The windows arrived in late October and we have just been waiting for a date we could all get together."
The team of volunteers consisted of Colin and Graham Hayes Joinery, Shaun Coates and Simon Sowter Builders, Mark Wibberly Joinery, Steve Bloor Builder, Deene Overton Plasterer and Graham Sowter Joinery.
They were supported by Mandy Sowter, Graham's wife, who made tea and bacon butties for the workers.
