A GROUP of volunteers have been hailed as heroes after they gave up their spare time to refurbish part of a popular community building.

A dozen retired plumbers, electricians and builders have put the finishing touches to a new bar area at headquarters of The Bocking Sport and Social Club after six months of grafting.

The 12 workers kindly stepped in to refurbish the facilities once the bowls season had come to an end in September last year.

Sharon Giffould, who is a member of the Bocking Bells club which uses the bar for its fortnightly meetings, said: “The bar area started to look quite tired and the floor was giving way. So when it closed for the season in September, they started working on it.

“They’ve been doing it for three mornings each week, even through winter when it was really cold.

“Honestly if you could see it now compared to how it was, it just looks amazing. They have completely transformed it all.”

The Bocking Bowls Club helped fund the cost of materials for the bar, which will be officially opened later in the spring.

Plans are in place to name the new area after the founder of the original clubhouse, Gary Stewart.

Mrs Giffould, whose husband Robert is secretary of the bowls club, added: "They’ve got something like 160 members at the club so this will be really important for them and will be heavily used.

“The volunteers have helped save a lot of money with labour costs and it’s so nice to see something like this where the community rallies round to help others.

"There are all sorts of events taking place in the summer which will need the bar. May Day celebrations take place on the field nearby and there are loads of sports club that will make good use of it too."

Further plans to install a new lift and toilets within the clubhouse remain in the pipeline, as the club seeks to bring its facilities into the 21st century.