A 150 year old village hall is hitting the right notes after a special grant helped improve the sound .

Alne Village near Easingwold has no pub or shop where people can meet or get together. The village hall is used as the central meeting point for local residents and for people from the surrounding area. Ten years ago the village hall committee organised an extensive refurbishment of the building which had been used in the past as the village school.

One of the main parts of the improvements was to try and get better sound quality so if musicians or actors were performing it would be boosted.

Secretary of the village hall Rosie Ness said: "Although we can now provide a clean, comfortable and modern environment for the community to use, it was spoilt by poor acoustics which prevented many residents from attending due to reverberation and an echo.

"But now thanks to a grant of £3,870 from Hambleton District Council’s Making a Difference Fund, we have fitted acoustic panels which not only look great but will really improve the experience for everyone using the hall particularly Alne Music Club who stage live events. We can’t wait until we can start using our hall again."

Local guitarist Pete Hall visited to test it out and gave it the thumbs up.