Penryn Town Council has given the trustees of the Stuart Stephens Memorial Hall another year to turn around their finances as they agreed to a grant of £2,000.

The community hall on West Street, which is run by a board comprising mainly town council members, last year made a net loss of £33.50, which the town council was advised would have been considerably worse if not for a previous grant from the council.

Councillor Chaz Wenmoth said it would be best to "say yes" to the grant this year to allow the trust to continue, "and then we can look again next year."

Councillor Beverly Hulme, the trust's vice-chair, addressed the council during the public speaking section of the meeting, as she and the rest of the trustees had to be absent while the grant was discussed.

She called the hall "an asset and a resource" for Penryn, pointing out that it had recently undergone £30,000 of refurbishment and was a designated emergency centre for the town.

She said: "Maybe the refurbishment and the use of it didn't take off as well as we might have hoped. To that end we're going to push the use of the hall."

She added that the trust plans to better advertise the hall, and has made a slight increase in rent, pointing out that unlike the nearby Temperance Hall it has no restriction on the consumption of alcohol."

Councillors were advised that the majority of funding for the hall has been grants from the council, and the largest expenses are reimbursing the council for a caretaker and renewing its insurance policy, which last year totalled £1,802.

Councillor Martin Mullins, supporting the grant, said: "With the new management in place they might go a little bit further to raising their own funds, which most groups do. We shouldn't have to keep dipping into their own pocketsand coffers to support them."

Mr Wenmoth, said the hall was being used more than it was, and added: "Stuart Stephens Hall, like the Old Gentlemen's Shelter and the Rechabite Hall, are all assets to the town, something that was given to the town, we should hold onto them.

"Once they're gone, they're gone."