RUBBISH from thousands of households is paying for a new roof on a popular Blackdown Hills entertainment venue.

Taunton-based Viridor Credits, funded by donations from Viridor’s 18 landfill sites across the UK, is giving £25,856 to Clayhidon Parish Hall.

The committee running the 125-year-old building, originally a Victorian village schoolroom, wants to raise more than £100,000 to bring it up to 21st Century standards.

Committee chairman Gareth Weekes said: “Worn slates, leaking ceilings and poor insulation mean we have no choice but to start with the roof.”

Once a new slate roof has been added, the committee plans to build an extension with new toilets, a meeting room and a parish archive room before thoroughly modernising the hall interior.

Work will start in May, but nesting swifts will delay completion of the hall roof until early September.

Roofing contractors Courtney Bowden and Son, of Wellington, will be making nest boxes for them to be fitted once the birds have migrated.

Mr Weekes added: “We are immensely grateful to Viridor Credits for this generous grant.”

Clayhidon Parish Council has also given £2,000 towards the roof and Richard Drew has donated £1,000 from the proceeds of the music festival he runs, Drewfest