LDT update (Fountain, McKirdy Park, Billys, Allotments)
We held our AGM for members Tuesday 25th March where we gave updates on a few of our current projects.
Fountain Hall
Although it was public a few weeks ago following the council meeting, we have now received the official confirmation that our Community Asset Transfer request for the Fountain has been approved and we will be leasing the hall on a full repairing basis for the next 25 years.
When we receive audited figures from our Accountants, we will also publish how the Fountain has done although preliminary internal figures were discussed with the members on Tuesday. 18 months in and we are happy with the progress the hall is making although there is a long way to go, and we are still subsidising it with significant amounts of the funds we generate from the ownership of the turbines and the flats.
We are currently running various activities in the Fountain free of charge to the over 50’s. These include art classes with Susan McMillan Visual Artist, our monthly music and memories group and Yogascape lead by Liz Steele Fitness. We hope to add a few more free activities throughout the year. This is possible due to funding awarded to us by Vaslan who do great work supporting charities and not for profit groups in South Lanarkshire.
We also still have our own groups which have been running for a number of years, these include dominoes, toddlers and our ladies’ social group.
We now have our full licence for the bar so no more having to apply for occasional. If you are booking an event in the hall that needs a bar there is a box, you can tick on the booking form.
This year we also welcome back the Blood Donation service in July and October.
Mckirdy Park
We have transferred £44,360 to Lesmahagow Community Council in preparation for making payment for the build of McKirdy Park.
This is made up of £40,000 directly contributed from our funds along with various small amounts of donations, a generous donation from Gardiners of Scotland Ltd and fundraising we did through the Trust. Much of our fundraising was led by Marion Irwin who ran a number of tombola’s for the park.
Marion is no longer with us but her contribution to supporting the village and our projects was very much appreciated by all of us at the Development Trust and she is greatly missed by everyone who knew her.
There is an additional £8,040 in the my park account which will also be released to LCC when we receive these funds.
My park was the main way of holding the community donations to which many of you in the village donated. Without this we would not have been able to proceed, and it was great to see so many people getting behind the park project and ensuring we blew past the target of £5,500 for community contribution.
The funds in my park were increased by donations made in memory of Margaret Craw, former chair of the community council. Margaret was very passionate about her village, and she would be happy to know that the time, effort and care she put into the planning for McKirdy park has paid off and it will soon be available for the whole village to enjoy.
The community council will make payment on behalf of the village when all the grant funds have been gathered in and I’m sure they’ll pop their own acknowledgement of the funders up for everyone to see when this is done.
When the park is completely finished the community council will also give everyone the date of opening but for now the development trust is ready to finalise our part in the Mckirdy Park project. It’s has been a long road and we’re more than ready to move on to our next projects.
Billys
The funding is in place, planning has been approved, and the tender documents should be available in the next couple of weeks for any local contractors interested in submitting a bid for the work. These will be available on Public Contracts Scotland and a link will be posted to our page when they are published.
Work is ongoing to set up the administration for the pop-up spaces which will be hireable on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. We are also in discussion with a butcher to take a permanent space in the shop.
Allotments
We have had planning approved for the construction of a new community hub onsite and there will be some tidy up work and prep work ongoing over the next couple of months. We are still to fully secure funding for the purchase and installation of the hub but if we can get this in place before the end of growing season, we hope to start work around the end of the year on the build.
New Staff
We have been awarded funding from the lottery to bring in 2 new part time staff members on a 3-year contract. One of these will be a community development worker who will work with us on various projects and activities. The other will be in a youth development role. They will work exclusively on projects and activities for under 18s. The job adverts will be placed on the good moves site in early April.
It's been a busy year for all the staff and Trustees of Lesmahagow Development Trust but we’re looking forward to what’s to come.
If anyone is interested in volunteering opportunities with the trust or would like more information on any of our activities please get in touch, follow our Facebook page for updates or drop into the fountain to find out what happening.