A village hall which has taken 33 years to complete is to be officially opened this week.

The long campaign to get Lewknor a hall started in 1969. Since then work has gone slowly while funding was secured.

Now it is finished, it will be called the Jubilee Hall.

Despite the delays, village residents never gave up hope that it would eventually open.

Parish council chairman Gill Bindoff said: "It has been a long hard struggle but we never really doubted that it would be finished one day.

"It has cost £300,000 to build, but our insurers say it is worth £500,000.

"Now we have a magnificent hall to serve Lewknor, South Weston and Postcombe.

"The next big effort is to get it fully used by the community."

The hall is set in seven acres of ground alongside the M40. As well as the main hall there is a kitchen, lavatories, changing rooms, storage areas and facilities for the disabled. The recreation ground in which it stands has sports facilities. The opening will be on Wednesday lunchtime, when people who have contributed to the project will be welcome. It will be opened by Lewknor resident Jessie Purnell, who has been involved with the project since the beginning.

Despite not being officially open, the hall played host to the BBC radio show Any Questions last Friday evening. Jonathan Dimbleby hosted the show, with the panel consisting of Gerald Kaufman MP, Conservative party vice-chairman Patricia Morris and Countryside Agency chairman Richard Wakeford.