MSP SPEAKS OUT FOR VILLAGE HALLS IN BERWICKSHIRE

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 21st Aug 2007

South of Scotland MSP Jim Hume has today committed his support to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisation’s Halls for All campaign and last week spent a day touring the Borders visiting village halls in Roxburgh and Berwickshire.

Jim said:-

“Village halls are play a vital role within any community, but particularly so in remote or rural areas simply because many rural areas do not have the usual public facilities commonplace in larger, more urban areas.

“Last week, accompanied by Tony Fowler of Berwickshire Association of Voluntary Services, I visited Abbey St Bathans village hall and spoke to members of the local community and Community Council.

“Abbey St Bathans is very much at the start of their project to create a local facility. The existing building is in disrepair and its current location is not ideal in terms of space and parking. The best solution would be to start from scratch and build an entirely new facility that could be used by everyone in the community.

“The hall is used for social events and provides an excellent place for mothers and toddlers. With no other similar venue in the area, it’s fair to say that the hall could be described as the hub of the community.

Tony Fowler added:-

“In community terms the village hall really is very important. I’m glad that Jim was able to see the village hall in its present state of disrepair because it illustrates the mountain we’ll have to climb to get a proper facility. It also demonstrates the importance of having help available to communities in creating any new communal facility.

The MSP continued:-

“Essentially one of the difficulties faced by village hall committees is first obtaining initial set up funding and thereafter maintaining a level of funding to meet the running costs of halls.

“One of the problems the Halls for All campaign highlights in particular is the numerous application procedures hall committees have to go through to obtain funding from different sources, some with differing criteria for eligibility. The campaign is calling for one single pot of money which would make that process a great deal easier and straightforward for the committee members who devote their free time to their local community.

“SCVO’s campaign to highlight the importance of village halls has my backing. That’s why I have signed their petition and would encourage anyone else to do the same.

“I shall be taking the opportunity whenever possible to raise this with the Scottish Executive.”