Campaigners who fought long and hard to preserve a treasured community hall in a Moray town have celebrated the start of a new era.
Yesterday, Moray Council officially handed the keys to the historic Fisherman’s Hall in Buckie over to a new community trust set up to ensure the popular facility fulfils its full potential.
Glen Campbell, the chairman of the Friends of the Fisherman’s Hall group met with Councillor Shona Morrison, the convener of Moray Council to celebrate the new dawn for the building as a community-operated location.
Local residents all across Moray answered a rallying call from the authority to take on the Fisherman’s Hall and five other similar buildings across the region when the council announced plans to shut them in December last year.
Although the group still needs to go through the community asset transfer (CAT) process, the Friends will now be able to begin planning for the future.
Buckie councillor Sonya Warren said the move to take control of the Fisherman’s Hall should serve as an inspiration to other communities across Moray.
She added: “The process isn’t complete yet – there’s still a wee bit of work to do to actually complete the CAT and get ownership, but I’m exceedingly proud of the committee and what they’ve achieved in such a short space of time.
“From the first meeting about the closure of the hall, to actually becoming a registered charity and moving forward to take on the lease is phenomenal – the amount of work they’ve put in over the last six months has been amazing.
“They have really brought the hall back to the community of Buckie, and they’ve done a really admirable job of constantly consulting the people of Buckie to see what they would like to see the Hall become in the future.
“They should be very proud of what has been accomplished.
“Taking on these community facilities takes a lot of work, so it’s a lot of responsibility and not for the faint of heart, but this proves that it can be done and it has strong benefits for communities.
“These projects really require strong business cases, and I firmly believe that the case for the Fisherman’s Hall will mean this building will do tremendously well for the people of Buckie in the future.”
