A VILLAGE is celebrating ‘good news’ after securing the future of a vital hub.
In 2018 Scottish Borders Council (SBC) announced it was considering the sale of West Linton Village Centre (VC).
Residents rallied, led by the community council, and took on the running of the hub while SBC remained as owners.
Now the village has greater ownership of the hub following a community asset transfer from the local authority.
It gives the West Linton Village Centre Trust tenure of the VC for the next 10 years for an annual ‘rent’ of £1.
The body was set up in 2018 to oversee the VC’s management and has helped take the centre from strength to strength.
SBC will continue to be ‘at arm's-length owners’.
A VC Trust spokesperson said: “It’s an opportune moment to say thank you to everyone who has helped make it happen. Firstly, we’d like to go way back to 2018 and thank Graham Tulloch and the then WL Community Council who rallied the community and made sure that, if we wanted to keep the VC, we would be given every chance to do so.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today if Graham and the CC hadn’t done what they did.
“It can sometimes feel easy to bash our ‘powers that be’ but throughout this time, we’ve got to say how helpful and enabling SBC have been.
“Clare Malster has been our contact at SBC and has been fantastic in helping us weave our way through all the formal processes and officialdom. Thanks, Clare.
“And last but not least, a massive thank you to everyone who has supported the VC over the last six years. It’s a great example of a phrase that we’re hearing more and more these days – ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’.
“Thank you for using it, we ain’t going to lose it, and here’s to the VC continuing to be a wee part of West Linton life for many years to come.”
The VC is regularly used by a variety of groups including the Whipman Play Society, West Linton Community Council, Alice Hamilton Trust, WL Angling Club, and First Responders.
The centre has also been a support to new groups and businesses, and has been popular venue for live music, yoga, language classes and craft workshops.
The VC Trust is made up of six trustees – Boyd Wild, Ben Gibbs, Laura Robertson, Lindsay Mann, Mark Barton and Ian Reid.
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