Blackfordby Old School Room has opened its doors to local groups and classes after being "much missed' during lockdown.

The building had close down during the pandemic but the Trustees have celebrated their third year in charge by re-launching the activities that had been proving so popular in the village before the pandemic.

The Old School Room held an open day last week to remind the public it is returning and to invite many of the groups to attend and encourage people to come along.

Trustees Treasurer, Katherine Moore, explained how valued the room is to the village and how much of a gap it left during the Covid lockdown.

She told Ashby Nub News: "This facility has been missed enormously during lockdown, our open day was all about that.

"I wanted to tell people that we're still here and we have survived,

"We've done a bit of decorating we've had the floors redone - and I also wanted to use it as an opportunity for the groups who use it to get a bit more interest going about them and what they do.

"They picked up quite a bit of interest.

"We took over three years ago, which is why we had the number three on the balloons at the open day, so it was our birthday.

"When I say we I mean a group of trustees, and we rope in our friends to help during projects.

"There is a group of people we can call on when needed, it's probably 12 in all, but not everyone is involved at the same time.

"So if you're free and you can come along, then please do and that's how it works."

Katherine says the Old School Room offers small groups a space to operate from - as well as Ashby de la Zouch Town Council using for meeting occasionally.

She added: "There are two community buildings in Blackfordby; the village hall which is much bigger than this, and that's a great facility, but the School Room is a much more intimate place, there are smaller groups that use this to meet.

"It's much more comfortable for smaller groups and cost less to hire."

She gave some examples of groups and classes that are available, with most already up and running.

Katherine added: "We have The Bee Farmer who has classes here, he does beekeeping courses and talks about bees.

"We have the arts and craft group which meets once a month, we also have guitar classes on Sundays, for all ages and all abilities, that's really good fun.

"We also have the Wildlife Group, they meet once a month as well and they have guest speakers each month, and that is absolutely amazing. We have some fantastic talks here, they have slideshows and a guest speaker. We usually get about 20 people attending that.

"We also have sewing class that's every Wednesday, and all these groups are just starting up again.

"We also have yoga classes here, and there is a karate class starting soon hopefully. We have Young Farmers they also meet here and Ashby town council meetings.

"There is also another yoga group called laughter yoga, she has also started an evening class here as well.

"We also have music nights once a month and you can't move in when they're on, there's about 35 people sitting in here, we have a resident band who are a duo. And we also have guest bands coming in, it's absolutely brilliant and the atmosphere is incredible, they don't need microphones, the acoustics in here are wonderful.

"Those nights alone, are sold out straight away."