Okehampton Town Council has urged residents to ‘Sponsor a Slate’ to help it raise funds to repair the Charter Hall roof and improve the ventilation system.

Last week (October 16), the town council announced it had set up a new campaign, which asks residents to donate £10 towards a roof slate, in order to cover the unexpected increase in the cost of the repairwork as the cost-of-living crisis continues.

Okehampton Town Councillor Jan Goffey, said: ‘There are so many groups, so many organisations in the town and so many social functions that are held within the Charter Hall that we desperately need to get this work done.

‘There’s no opening windows in the Charter Hall so you need a ventilation system, but it’s so windy here that when the wind blows the rain in through the vents whereupon it runs down and stains the ceiling below and it’s having an effect on the wooden beams. Now the ventilation system itself has broken down.’

Repair work was set to take place before covid but following the outbreak of the pandemic the council was forced to put the work on hold.

Now with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the council estimates that the cost of repair work will have at least doubled.It now needs to match the £250,000 which had already been set aside for the work but which is now not enough to cover the costs.

Cllr Goffey added: ‘If you’re a village hall, you can claim all sorts of grants, if you’re in an a city, you can claim all sorts of grants. But there aren’t any grants for helping a community building that is in the centre of a rural market town. There’s only one government grant which we could apply for. We’re between a rock and a hard place.’

The council will accept cash, cheques, and BACS payments which will be added to the earmarked fund for the work.

The council asks that anyone who donates email their details to the town clerk along with permission for their name to be published as a contributor and town benefactor.

BACs payments can be made to Okehampton Town Council with the sort code 30-98-90 and account number 18063468.

The reference should be: your name/Roof Fund.