THE adventure holiday centre based at Viney Hill Vicarage, near Lydney, is set to expand hugely with a grant of £400,000 from the diocese.

Minister in charge at Viney Hill, Steve Hunt, said the news was very exciting and he was looking forward to the changes which would see the old building developed as indoor holiday accommodation for young people.

Steve currently lives in the Vicarage with his wife and two young children while youngsters attending the Christian activity centre's holidays camp under canvas.

The plans see him and his family moving into a new purpose-built annexe, while moving the holidaying youngsters inside will mean that the centre can operate in winter as well as summer.

"It's fantastic – I'm really pleased," he said, adding that planning permission had just been approved and work on the changes would be starting very shortly.

"It is the culmination of a business plan we have been working on for the past three years – hard work but very rewarding."

He said since he had been involved with the holiday centre the volume of young people coming to the Forest for rock-climbing, canoeing, abseiling and a host of other activities had increased enormously.

"Back in 1997 we had six or seven hundred people through the summer. This year so far we have booked 4,000 in."

He said the young people and the centre were generally well accepted in the locality, especially since they had been able to control noise levels from a large camp – something which would improve further with the move indoors.

There would also be a public meeting shortly to explain the moves to residents and answer any questions they might have.