GAS workers are thanking residents of a West Cumbrian village for their patience by paying for festive celebrations.

Northern Gas Network and its contractor Gallagher, which are upgrading gas mains in Seaton, handed £500 to Seaton Village Hall.

The cash is to help with the cost of the venue’s community Christmas parties - one for children and one for over 65s.

Stevie Sharp, of Northern Gas Network, said: “We’ve had a huge effect on people who live in Seaton and passing traffic, so we thought it would be nice to do something for the community. A lot of people attend the parties and we wanted to support what the village hall does and give something back to the residents. At Northern Gas we have a ethos of giving back to the community.”

The company is hoping to complete work on the village’s Main Road by Christmas and move onto the side roads after the festivities. It is expected work would be completed in the spring.

When the company was working on the lane leading to the village hall, off Causeway Road, it caused disruption for around two weeks.

Mike Thompson, village hall caretaker and administrator, started a fundraising campaign earlier this year to pay for the car park to be improved.

The village hall needs around £12,000 to resurface the car park, which currently is full of pot holes.

Mike said: “This money means we don’t have to go into our funds to pay for the parties, which means the money is left in the pot for the work to the car park. I’m chuffed to bits that Northern Gas decided to give this money to us.”

The children’s Christmas party took place on Sunday and the one for over 65s will take place on Saturday.

The village hall has been holding the events for the last few years as a thank you for residents’ continued support of the hall.

Tickets have sold out each year.

Ricky McMillan, of Northern Gas, said: “By replacing all the gas pipes with plastic ones we can effectively reduce the number of leaks and reduce disruption in the long term. We’re expecting to be working in Seaton until March-April. We’ve been working in the village for around six weeks and we should be moving to the site streets after Christmas, which should cause less disruption than working on the main road.”