Villagers plead with Falkirk Council to help save community hall from closure

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Volunteers are pleading with Falkirk Council to find a way to keep a small village's only community space open.Avonbridge Community Hall - which will be 100 years old next year - is facing closure as part of Falkirk Council's strategic property review which will see more than 100 properties either close or transfer out of council ownership.The council's aim is to make massive savings in property cost and carbon footprint, and it is promoting Community Asset Transfers (CAT) to make the community responsible for their buildings and all of the costs. Read more: Falkirk town centre hotel loses appeal to keep beer garden But Avonbridge Community Association (ACA), which manages the hall, says it is unrealistic for the small village to take ownership of the building where the energy costs alone would be £12,000 and expensive repairs are badly needed.The hall - built as a Miners' Welfare - on Blackford Road, serves as a polling station and emergency shelter for the area - most recently it took in the elderly residents of Blackfaulds House, when fire broke out in the care home in 2019.But it is also at the heart of a community that has issues common to many post-industrial villages; working poverty, social isolation, digital exclusion and poor public transport among them.The hall is currently run by seven local volunteers as an affordable venue that offers private lets and activities including a weekly Kids Club, Braes Wee Choir and a dance group.

There's also a weekly 'Munch and Brunch' - funded by the National Lottery - which gives mainly elderly people a chance to get together and have a chat, something to eat and plenty of tea.