Introduction
We are now almost into spring after a wet and windy winter and it is time to give you an update on where things are with Glassford Community Group.
As you will know, Ian Dickson took over as Chair last year after James Newall stepped down following a very successful five year spell as chair in which much was achieved in the village. Paul Denning has now taken over as Treasurer from Lisa Webb. Les Hoggan is still Secretary. Ian is now also a Trustee on the Charity and this will be reported to OSCR as part of the annual return later in the year.
Village Hall
Glassford Community Group is now the proud owner of our village hall following the completion of the Community Asset Transfer last September. Towards the end of 2023 volunteers spent hours and days in the hall doing essential repairs and maintenance to get the hall ready for use. There was a launch event in November that included a selection of local musicians performing on stage after an open day to display the proposed redevelopment plans.
The hall is now available for hire for birthday parties, weddings, meetings, leaiure activities, art classes, fitness classes, etc. If you are interested in hiring the hall contact us on Facebook or send an email to glassfordcommunitygroup@gmail.com. The hall costs £30 an hour to book with a minimum booking of two hours.
Redevelopment and Funding
Plans for the redevelopment of the hall are forging ahead. Following the award of a grant from the Community Led Local Development Fund (CLLD) we appointed an architect, Angus Design Associates which is based in Hamilton. There were many meetings to discuss requirements and a final set of drawings was agreed in December 2023. There were submitted to South Lanarkshire Council in December 2023 as part of a formal planning application and we expect to hear the outcome over the course of the next month or two.
A further grant application was made to enable us to fund the development and submission of an application for Building Warrant and to develop tender documents for issue. We expect to put out a formal tender after the outcome of the planning application is known.
There are also plans to identify an area to be used as an offsite site base given the restrictions around the village hall. More on that later.
Discussions have started with potential funders for the redevelopment itself. This is going to be well into seven figures and there are also ongoing discussions about VAT implications and how we manage that aspect of the funding. The group has opened a second bank account specifically for the redevelopment to keep those funds from separate day to day running costs for Glassford Community Group.
The expectation is that work will start on the redevelopment early in 2025 and take around 18 months to complete.
Hall activities
We are already seeing a good number of hall hires. Jo Martin is running two Clubercise classes, on a Monday Evening and a Thursday Morning. We have regular yoga classes on a Wednesday evening and we have a number of birthday parties booked for the coming months.
As mentioned above if you would like to hire the hall Glassford Community Group would be delighted to hear from you.
Community Garden
Glassford Community Garden was completed in 2021 with funding from the Spirit of Lanarkshire Fund, with the land leased from Church of Scotland. With the coming of spring, we need volunteers to help us maintain the garden with planting, weeding, etc. If you are able to help please contact us on Facebook or at glassfordcommunitygroup@gmail.com.
Caretaker
With the growing number of events and activities taking place in the hall, we are in need of caretaker support. We would be happy for more than one person to offer to help and would develop a rota to support scheduled activities. Duties would include opening and closing the hall, setting up for events, cleaning up afterwards and ensuring the event procedures checklist is completed. We anticipate around 10 hours a week being needed . This would be on a self employed basis with payment made based on a completed timesheet.
If you are interested, please contact us by email at glassfordcommunitygroup@gmail.com, message us on Facebook or contact one of the committee.
Planned events
March 23rd: Glassford Beer and Gin Festival. From 1pm to 9pm. Tickets available at https://tinyurl.com/4wr9az8x or from Stevie Urquhart in the Glassford Inn weekends in the evening.
April 27th: Singing I’m No a Billy, He’s A Tim. This is the opening date for this national tour of a popular play performed for over 20 years. Ticket information is at https://www.scottkyle.co.uk/
Quarterly Comedy Nights to be scheduled from May 2024.