LYDNEY Community Centre received an early Christmas present with a grant that will help cut heating bills.

The Gloucestershire Environmental Trust has given the centre £14,750 towards insulation for the entire building, six double glazed windows, LED lightings and suspended ceilings in two rooms and a corridor.

The grant is a boost after the recent disappointment at seeing a major project being turned down for a Lottery grant.

Centre chairman Derek Biddle said: "We are very grateful to the Gloucestershire Environmental Trust for the grant.

“We are spending about £5,000 on heating the centre and the insulation will cut the cost of heating.”

The centre was recently told a three-year, £400,000 project had been turned down for Lottery funding.

A large part of the project was to provide youth activities at the centre for the town but would also have included building works such as a new coffee bar, larger kitchen and new toilets.

Mr Biddle said: “It included a huge element for youth activities but they (the Lottery) were worried about where the funding would come from after three years.”

The centre is working with the county charity Young Gloucestershire to have youth activities on one evening a week.

Mr Biddle said: “There is a consultation with young people to find out what they want and it should start in January.”

“Perhaps the timing (for the Lottery bid) was not right — if the activities had been going for a year or two we would have been in a stronger position.”