Ennerdale Bridge Community Centre Credit: ITV Border
Villagers in Ennerdale Bridge are trying to raise £80,000 to keep their pub and community centre open.
Residents raised £730,000 so they could take over the pub in 2011 after it closed, and they recently opened The Gather cafe as a community hub.
The Gather has a well-used cafe with cakes baked by the villagers, a village shop, which many say is a life-line after the original closed down, sending them on a seven-mile trip if they ran out of milk or sugar and a community room for use by the youth club and for holding community events. There's also space for a gym, which young people in particular say they want.
But once the building opened six months ago, organisers realised they also needed money to get the business going.
Many villagers have shares in the business and have helped get the hub going both financially and by donating their time. Organisers say they have now asked the village for money too many times and need to appeal to others to help.
They're trying to raise £80,000 (£20,000 from public donations) to stock the gym, and put projection equipment in the meeting room for holding events and a youth club.
The community in Ennerdale Bridge dreamed big and got their wish but the reality turned out to be more expensive and now they hope with one last push, their cakes will fund their vital community hub for many more years.
