The Craven Lane building was due to be auctioned by Loveitts estate agents on Wednesday.

But at the 11th hour an ‘emergency committee’ of eight managed to purchase it for the community with the help of a generous benefactor.

Pauline Mead, a committee member who has been running a mini-mart in the hut for 19 years, was overwhelmed at the news.

She said: “It’s fantastic, we’re over the moon. It’s so great that it hasn’t been sold to a developer for more flats.

“It’s very exciting for Southam and people should be pleased that this piece of the town’s history has been saved.

“There will be a lot of work to do to develop it for the future and we will need lots of people to dig in their pockets and help fundraise.”

The committee approached the Heart of England Community Foundation, which matches projects with funds, for help. And the organisation found a businessman who was willing to provide the cash.

Foundation director Kate Mulkern said: “I have never met a more enthusiastic group of people. It’s their incredible hard work and tenacity that has saved a much-loved building for the people of Southam.

“It was the first time we’d had such a compelling, big project and luckily there was someone in the area who wanted to suppport a community venture of this kind.

“It’s a person who has put a lot of anonymous support into the South Warwickshire community over the years - their privacy is very important to them, but I know that they are absolutely delighted as well.

“A partnership will be formed between our group and the management committee to see how they want the asset developed because it’s in a run down condition at the moment.”

Set up as an Infant Welfare Centre in 1939 by philanthropist Ethel Brewster, it was put into the trust of a committee after her death to be used for the benefit of Southam’s children. But over the decades the hut’s ownership became unclear until last year when HSBC came forward as the sole remaining trustee.

After failing to find a children’s charity to take it on, HSBC decided to sell it and give the money to suitable groups in the area. But the committee believed the site should be kept for the use of residents and launched a camapign to save it.

Community celebrations are expected to take place at the hut on Tuesday.