VOLUNTEERS hoping to open a new community café in Purton gave the village a taste of what could be in store when they hosted a fundraising food festival on Saturday.

People in Purton (Pips) have grand designs for the Purton Club and are hoping to open a community café there in the near future.

The group needs to build a new kitchen on the side of the current function room and are already a third of the way through their £40,000 fundraising drive. They have also submitted a planning application for the new kitchen.

Helping them with their fundraising efforts they organised a food festival on Saturday in the village hall featuring stalls from Purton Farm Shop, Lydiard Turkeys, Liquoirce Heaven and The Pear Tree Hotel.

They also offered hot drinks and soups to customers, to give them a taste of what will be in store at the new community café.

Volunteer Helen Dixon said: “We have got a diverse population in Purton and more than 100 small businesses who have nowhere to meet with clients if they want to have a chat.

"We have a lot of young mums who might like somewhere to stop and have a drink after dropping the children off at school, while the local youth worker also wants to set up an after-school club.

"On top of that there are a lot of mature residents who would like somewhere to meet, and sometimes they feel reluctant to go into a pub.”

Fellow volunteers Mary and Dave Nettleton carried out an extensive survey of residents to gauge support for the project.

Mary said: “Almost everyone who replied said they would support the idea of the café – it would be in the community for the community.

“We came up with the idea after visiting Pewsey where they have community tea rooms run by volunteers and it was brilliant. They have just had their 20th anniversary so it is sustainable.”