Closure of community hall in Crieff

Jun 5 2009 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Dear Editor, – This letter is written with great regret as we are being forced to close the Crieff Community Hall after three years.

We have tried to make the hall useable for all sorts of groups to use. We started off with karate, kickboxing, jujitsu, taekwondo, two child groups, girl guides.

Groups such as aerobics, pilates, yoga and meditation wanted to use the hall if there was heating, but due to the severe cold in the winter and the toilet facilities the groups were forced to leave. It costs £100 a week to run the hall £60 a week of this is for insurance.

We have asked for help from Perth and Kinross Council and have applied for grants from all sorts of organisations but to no avail.

We asked for portable toilets as this would have been the easiest solution. But again to no avail.

As I said before, we have put thousands of pounds of our own money into the hall and hundreds of work hours.

We have tried to get things going to keep the kids off the street but have been stopped at every angle due to the lack of funds. All our instructors and helpers were volunteers and received no payment.

I think that a group such as we formed should have received help. I have trained kids in karate for the past 38 years and have never taken a penny for my instruction. I have instructed in Crieff since 1974 training In huts, pubs, schools, clubs.

We have a lot of equipment that we will have to store, so if anyone has premises that we could hire (around 100 square meters in Crieff or Perth) as a Dojo, please contact me on 01738637167 or email me on martin@kyokushin-scotland.co.uk

Chairman Martin Marlborough,

82 Newhouse Road,

Perth, PH12JH.