The campaign to save a village pub for the community has been given a tremendous boost after a £30,000 fundraising target was almost smashed in a week.

As reported, residents of Broadwindsor want to take over the White Lion and operate it as a community-run venture.

A packed meeting last week saw a strong show of community support - although £30,000 must be raised in a month.

Encouragingly, as of Wednesday just over £23,000 had been raised via the online Crowdfunder appeal - £5,000 of that has come from Power to Change Community Business Crowdmatch which made the donation on Tuesday.

Since then however there has been more donations and more than £28,000 has now been raised.

Steering group chairman David Leader, who is also vice-chairman of the parish council, said: ‘Power to Change have recognised that our project will make an enormous difference to the local community and are therefore happy to offer their financial support to get us closer to our target."

He added: "We still need to redouble our efforts to meet our £30k target before we can be confident of moving forward and signing a tenancy with Palmers Brewery.’

This week, a video was released to publicise the campaign. It was created for free by David Rose of Dorset Videos. Watch it below.

Mr Leader said: "There has been a terrific response from local people. They dearly want the White Lion project to succeed. Having our only pub open in the centre of Broadwindsor means so much to all of us. It’s vitally important.

"The White Lion is our hub and we want it back. We can do so much as a village if we are able to run the pub ourselves as a community-run venture. We need to renovate the bar area, purchase kitchen equipment and supply working capital.

"We are now approaching local businesses for their support in helping us get over the finish line."

The steering group need just over £40,000 before the White Lion can open as a community-run pub.

Some £10,000 of that amount has been pledged already by Broadwindsor Group Parish Council, Palmers Brewery and money raised from the pop-up bar, The Comrades Arms, which is open three nights a week at the village hall.

It’s intended for the community-run White Lion to be modestly profitable but not for private profit. It will offer food and drink with an emphasis on local produce.

Mr Leader added: "We will strive to create a warm, friendly atmosphere and want the pub to be a hub for the community to visit, meet in and carry out as many community activities as possible. These will be as diverse as the Church Group, the over 60s, Broadwindsor Fun Group, Young Farmers, the White Lion Book & Pudding Club, to name but a few.

"As a community venture, we will welcome and look to adopt any suggestions from the community that are feasible within the available space."

To donate visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-the-white-lion-broadwindsor/ or to find out more and become a member of the campaign for £5 visit savethewhitelion.org