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