THE Holsworthy Pavilion crowdfunder initiative drew to a close on Sunday, having surpassed its original target.

Those involved were delighted when the final figure of £11,276 was announced, after initially setting out to only collect £5,000.

The crowdfunder was a new concept to all involved.

Chairman of the parks committee on Holsworthy town council and organiser of the pavilion project, Lyndon Piper, said: “Although the mechanism for fundraising appeared brilliant and the range of benefits obvious we were all concerned how well it would work in our rural area where wages are low and many still distrust the internet, even if they have access to it in the first place.”

Even though the group was unsure it decided that a target of £2,000 in four weeks lacked ambitions so decided on one of £5,000.

Mr Piper told the Post there were still some concerns of raising what, at the time, seemed like a monumental amount, but: “The community support received from the moment we went ‘live’ was phenomenal. Within two days we had reached £1,000 and with six days remaining we had surpassed our target with bells on.”

It proved any initial concerns were unnecessary, he said.

Local groups also became involved with fundraising efforts — the town’s youth centre, which has only recently been re-opened by volunteers following county council closure, organised a raffle raising £250, the social club donated £500 from its charity allocation fund, and two local, family-run businesses came forward as corporate sponsors, pledging £1,500 each.

Waitrose has also approached the pavilion project team and asked if it could support them via its ‘green token’ scheme by making the pavilion one of the store’s Community Matters groups.

Mr Piper said: “The overwhelming support and generosity shown reinforced our belief in the project to new levels and the emotion of the process was further raised by the £1,000 pledges made by the families of the late Glen Jones and Colin Walter, two much loved men and friends.

“It was an emotional end to a fantastic four weeks for this community, at the start of a project full of goodness and hope for the future.”

Mayor Cllr John Allen said: “It’s been an absolutely wonderful acheivement for the Holsworthy community.

“There has been such great local support for the pavilions project and people have got fully behind the efforts of Lyndon and the clubs involved.

“We were only expecting to get £5,000 initially, but to have doubled that and more is fantastic. It has been a real credit to the efforts of those involved.”

The group is aiming to apply to the Football Association and English Cricket Board in order to secure the remaining funding needed.

Even though the crowdfunder page is no longer operational, donations are still coming in, helping reinforce strong, local support to help applications to the FA and ECB, which is needed to secure the project’s final funding.