Burns' Supper at the Town Hall, 1st February, 2013

The Town Hall is host to a Traditional Burns’ Supper on Friday 1^st February 2013 starting at 7 p.m.  There will be a full Burns’ supper with entertainment by a host of well-known Burns’ Supper speakers, under the Chairmanship of William Williamson, who has always been a huge supporter of our aims for the Town Hall. 

It will be a real night to remember, and tickets can be obtained in Moffat from ‘Present Time’ at the bottom of the High Street, or from ‘Moffat Books’ on Well Street, priced £25 each.  Bring your friends and make up a table of 6 or 8 people.  Further information can be obtained from Marion Thorburn on 01683 220767.  Proceeds from the event are being donated to the Town Hall Trust.

 

 

UNFORTUNATELY, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED OWING TO REDUCED DEMAND COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEARS.

AT THE TOWN HALL TRUST WE ARE HAPPY TO HEAR FROM ANY DISAPPOINTED PEOPLE WHO WISH US TO HOLD THE EVENT NEXT YEAR AND WANT TO HELP MAKE IT A SUCCESS IN 2014. 

Moffat Town Hall Trust Board Meeting

"We can't choose them. They've spelt Moffat wrong!"

Exciting stuff-the next Board Meeting is scheduled for Thursday December 20th and hopefully we should all get an extra Christmas present.

The tender process for the main contractor to handle the refurbishment of the building resulted in bids being submitted from a short list of 5 builders, who had passed an initial screen and reference check for experience of similar builds, financial stability and safety record amongst other things.

Obviously, we are are keen that employment is as local as possible, but with public money involved it is necessary to follow full and proper tendering processes.

Those bids have now been received/reviewed and thankfully we can actually afford some of them and at the Board Meeting we should confirm who will get the work.  Work still planned to start in February-Hurrah!

Moffat Town Hall Producers Market

If like myself you visited the Town Hall this Sunday, braving the cold wind that swept down the High Street to give hope to the lingering sheet ice that reinforcements were on the way, then you will have been knocked out by huge range of produce and crafts.

The cooking smells from Sarah's Upper Annandale lamb were very hard to resist and personally only by focussing on which of the range of home made breads to buy could I actually manage it.

Chocolates, pies, smoked salmon, cakes, vegies, jams and chutnies-we are truly blessed to have this stuff delivered to us on the second Sunday of every month.  I can't believe that some Moffat residents don't know it exists, or prefer the dubious delights of Tesco's Direct.

Often you hear the phrase-"Use it or Lose It!".  Not likely in this case as it is very busy, so perhaps "Use it of Miss Out!" would be more apt.

One last plug for Mrs McMinn's double yokers that I enjoyed for breakfast this morning and time to sign off.

See you at the market in January!

Martin-A Trustee.

Handover Ceremony

Well-its finally happened!

 

In the picture below you see Dumfries & Galloway Council Chief Executive Gavin Stevenson handing over the keys to the Town Hall to MTHRT Chairman of Trustees Peter Beck-Samuels.

 



 

Today, saw a big chunk of the great and good of Moffat gathering at the Town Hall for the official handover ceremony-called in by the rousing piping of Giovanni Mezullo.

 

Townspeople, Councillors and local MSP Elaine Murray put away Bucks Fizz and a marvellous cake decorated by Margaret Jackson.

It was tremendously in keeping that Bettina Dawson(Toosh) had been asked to cut the ribbon that formally moved us in to our new ownership.  The Town Hall is at the heart of the High Street and Toosh has been has worked around it longer than anyone else in Moffat.  She is 90 this year and started working in the Dicerbo family business when she was 13 1/2 and is still working today in her Fish & Chip shop-though she has also worked in the Dawson's Ice Cream Shop now managed by her son and the family restaurant that used to be in the old bank building.

The formal proceedings concluded with a fantastic performance of Adele's "Hometown" by Caitlin, Holly and Joseph from Moffat Academy, who represented the school along with Head Teacher Mrs Leslie Watson.

 

What Are The Plans For Moffat Town Hall

Looking in awe at the first posting on this blog, it occurred to me that this was all well and good, but what actually are they doing with £600k.

 

Well, you get surprisingly little for your money, especially when you are having to follow very specific requirements to repair a architecturally significant roof that is leaking like a sieve but here you go!

 

This will provide the money to repair and restore the outside of the Hall. The roof will be re-slated and re-leaded; any other structural repairs to the roof will be undertaken; structural cracks in the foundations will be repaired; the masonry and windows will be renovated, guttering replaced; the supporting beam over the stage will be rectified, bringing the stage back into use; the frontage of the Hall will be renewed, including removing the small wall to make access easier. The whole will result in a building with a long life span, wind and water tight.

The exterior of the Hall will look newly refurbished rather than ‘tired and neglected’. The front will be resurfaced and be open to the pavement.

 

The whole project will take approximately 10 months, but at no stage will the Hall be closed, though for set periods parts of the Hall nearest to the Stage and sections of the front canopy will be closed off for safety reasons.

 

The Main Hall Facing The Stage

Completely separate from this will be a project to refurb the kitchen that is key to many events-not least the world famous Moffat Saturday Coffee Mornings.

 

Martin-a Trustee

 

The First Post!

This post is hopefully the first of many and so welcome to our blog.

 

This blog has been established by the Moffat Town Hall Redevelopment Trust and follows the signing of our lease with Dumfries & Galloway Council to bring the Town Hall within community control and the related agreement by the Council and Historic Scotland to jointly fund a £600,000 refurbishment project for the building.  The Trust has worked for some years to get to this point and if anything the journey will become even more interesting going forward. 

 

Our Town Hall-Before The Refurb!

(yes-those are Budleia's growing out of the roof and the paint is peeling off our neo georgian portico, but.......... the building is still the heart of vibrant community activity in Moffat and soon it's appearance will reflect that value!)

 

While very much aimed at people who do use Moffat Town Hall, or who might use it in the future, this blog is very much intended to be a two way communication vehicle and suggestions/questions are welcome from the whole interweb.

 

The plan is to allow a wide audience to keep in touch with progress in building/maintenance work scheduled to begin in February 2013 and also to offer a one stop shop to see events scheduled to take place over the next weeks.

 

Hopefully many voices will contribute, so architects and others involved in the project will be encouraged to contribute as well as organisers of events.

 

Martin-a Trustee