THE wind huffed and it puffed and it blew the marquee down, but the new pavilion in Holsworthy stood firm.

On Sunday, supporters and guests were invited to witness the official ribbon cutting ceremony and hand over of the newly completed Holsworthy Sports Pavilion in Stanhope Park.

The pavilion refurbishment and extension is one of the largest projects the town council has undertaken and has been on its ‘wish list’ for many years.

Not one to shy away from a challenge, mayor Jon Hutchings and his fellow councillors made the decision in 2015 to no longer just speak about upgrading the town’s pavilion, which, although holds many memories for local people, had become old, tired and was no longer fit for purpose. These aspirations were put into action and the council set about raising the £423,256 needed for the project.

Once the funding was secured local firms — Piper Architecture and Roger Andrews Ltd — were appointed to carry out work in January 2017.

On Sunday, Cllr Hutchings was delighted to get proceedings underway to officially open the pavilion.

He said the project ‘does owe thanks’ to the community and those who have supported the project from beginning to end — including everyone present on the day, town clerk Vanessa Saunders for her work with the finances, Cllrs John Allen and Keith Musker and the Holsworthy Area Sports Pavilion (HASP) group.

Cllr Hutchings said: “When the new build was first discussed in any great detail it was the intention that a user group would run the building. It became very apparent early on that the pavilion was going to have two main groups using the facility…Holsworthy Youth Football Club and the Holsworthy Cricket Club.

“Both clubs are well embedded in the town, the cricket club was formed in 1873 and the Youth Football Club celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. Both clubs helped towards the final funding package with substantial funding from their governing bodies, the ECB and the FA.

“Toward the end of 2016 HASP was formed. The Holsworthy Area Sports Pavilion trustees signed a 25-year lease in December 2017. This was a huge milestone bearing in mind the new pavilion had been talked about for many, many years. For the last 16 months members of the town council have worked hard with members of HASP to complete this project.”

He added: “Now we have a building that our clubs can be proud of rather than that old rundown pavilion with one shower and one toilet for 22 sweaty cricket players to share after a game. And even better than that there is a nice bit of decking I can sit on to watch the cricket on a sunny Sunday afternoon!”

Cllr Hutchings was joined by special guest Plymouth Argyle defender Gary Sawyer, Archie Palmer and Lily Horsburgh from the youth football club and Hannah Leveson and James May from the youth cricket club, for the official ribbon cutting.

Cllr Hutchings then ‘handed the mic’ over to Gary, who is originally from Bideford, to say a few words. He expressed his thanks to everyone for allowing him to share in the event and said: “Growing up in the area I know how important these facilities are. It can encourage more people to get into sport.

“I used to play football at a place like this when I was young and I know this pavilion will be of great benefit to everyone in this town.”

The project would never have been completed without the support of funders.

The English Cricket Board provided the project with a £40,000 grant. Neil Higginson, the board’s regional facilities manager, said: “It is a real pleasure to be here today. Although not involved with this project personally this goes a long way to proving what a partnership like this can achieve — sport really can bring people together.

“I have to say I am glad to see my sport working well together with football, an unlikely partnership but one that has worked to achieve this.”

A grant for £99,000 was provided by the Premier League and The FA Facilities fund, which is delivered by the Football Foundation and The Sport England Inspired Facilities Fund also gave £75,000.

The Devon FA will use the sports pavilion to support a range of courses and activities. Tom Sampson, FA representative for the county and west area, said: “This is a fantastic facility for Holsworthy and the wider community. Devon FA have helped to fund this project but it is the people of Holsworthy that have really helped to make this happen.”

Torridge District Council provided £35,000 towards the project from its ‘Capital Grant Fund’. Torridge District Council leader Jane Whittaker said: “This is an amazing facility. If I lived in Holsworthy I would be proud of it. I have been to three opening events this week alone and it has been wonderful to see so many rural projects like this being so well supported — it is about time we started focusing on rural areas and providing facilities like this.”

Over £118,000 of the final figure needed to complete the project was provided by the town council, Devon County Council and donations from a number of local businesses and organisations, as well as the Aviva Community Fund, Thorne Farm Wind Turbine grant and a very successful crowdfunder page set up by HASP, which raised in excess of £11,000 with over 142 individuals, families and businesses making pledges.

The chairman of HASP Steve Ivey said: “On behalf of the youth football and cricket clubs and HASP I would like to say thank you to the people of Holsworthy for their generosity. Without the funding this would have been an unreachable goal.

“I want to thank HASP for their hard work and Lyndon Piper who has been at the forefront of this project for more than half a decade.

“We want this to be a self sufficient building run by volunteers. We want to encourage park users, the community and visitors to use these new facilities as health and wellbeing are at the top of our priorities list.

“We welcome new members to HASP and want this to very much be [Holsworthy’s] facility.”

Also present on the day, showing his support for the town’s project, was West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox (Cons). He said: “This isn’t all about money but belief and commitment. The creation of this fantastic facility is down to the commitment of this town and its people.”

“I want to say thank you to those who have worked so hard to create this pavilion. It takes sheer guts to create something like this and it will be of great benefit to future generations. It was our forefathers who made the village halls and now in 50 to 100 years time we will be known for creating this great facility and that is a pretty good legacy.”

Rounding off the day, Devon County councillor for the Holsworthy rural divison Barry Parsons (Cons), said: “I echo Geoffrey Cox’s sentiment and believe it is the people of Holsworthy we must thank but I also want to say a big thank you to the town council. It is so easy to criticise but they do a wonderful job for this town.

“I also agree with Jane [Whittaker] that we must support our rural areas. Holsworthy is where things happen, people say things don’t happen in the countryside but just look at this building and what we as a community have created.”

Looking to the future, design lead for the pavilion and member of HASP, Lyndon Piper of Piper Architecture said: “I am over the moon to finally see the building completed. I always knew it would happen but the quality and how the facility has turned out is excellent — I really couldn’t have wished for more.

“I am excited about the future and what we can provide. We have an ambitious young gang of people who are passionate and want to provide the best opportunities they can for local people.”

Lyndon said there are hopes that the pavilion will be able to encourage people, both young and old, into sport and also encourage equality as women’s and girls’ participation in sport rises.

He added: “The community made this happen and we wanted to repay them with a facility they deserve. I hope it will become a home for sport here in Holsworthy but we also hope to provide a place where people can come to enjoy a cup of tea and a chat as well, because staving off isolation in a rural area like this is very important.“

The ownership of the pavilion will remain with the town council but the newly formed HASP management group — which includes representatives from the youth football and cricket clubs — will take over the running of the pavilion.

The day concluded with Cllr Hutchings presenting Steve with a ‘very large key’ to signify this handover process.

However, the day was not finished. Although the event had gone according to plan, mother nature decided at the last minute to join the party and lift one of the two marquees, erected that morning to shelter the guests, up and off into the air.

A member of the public sustained an injury but the community’s resilience shone through as all present rushed onto the field to assist in any way they could.

Assistant to the town clerk, Kerry Wilcox, deployed her skills as a Community First Responder and dealt with the situation at hand whilst members of the public joined together to restrain the marquee from flying off any further.

An ambulance was called and the casualty was taken to the minor injuries unit at Stratton Hospital before later being released home.

It was another true display of community spirit.