Major revamp has Buckie Fishermen's Hall looking grand
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THE Fishermen's Hall in Buckie is sporting a fresh new look inside thanks to ongoing refurbishment work.
Over the course of the last six to eight months, the team of volunteers who run the hall have been hard at work performing all sorts of upgrades and refurbishment at the popular community-run facility.
The work has literally gone from top to bottom, as hall volunteer Gordon Cowie explained.
"We've been very busy doing an all over freshen up and repair programme.
"We've had to strip a lot of wood out of part of the roof as water was getting and affecting the electrics. We've done quite a lot of work on the electrics themselves, too.
"The main hall has been repainted and we've also blocked up three of the windows. This was in response to a complaint from a resident in the area about noise coming from the hall. We've followed the recommendations given to us by Environmental Health to soundproof the windows.
"There're are new curtains in place for the remaining windows and the stage and we've also put new doors on the front of the stage for the storage area underneath it.
"A big project has been the main hall floor. We got a quote of £12,000 to revamp it so we hired some sanders and decided to do it ourselves. I think we must've spent about 60 hours sanding the floor and also repairing a lot of it before varnishing it again.
"At the moment we're getting quotes to paint the toilets, which will complete our freshen up programme."
He added that new chandeliers had also been purchased and installed ahead of the marquee in the hall going back up.
However, running and upgrading a facility like the Fishermen's Hall does not come cheap, and the management committee have other major spending requirements on the horizon.
Mr Cowie continued: "Funding is a big priority for us in 2024.
"We're spending a lot of money to keep the place going, especially on utilities.
"One thing we're desperately trying to do is replace the heating system. Of the three boilers only one is working, which was the state we took over the hall from Moray Council. The heating was substandard 10 years ago.
"It means we often struggle to heat the hall."
However, with 2023 proved to be a good year for the all, especially as it was the first completely free of Covid regulations.
Mr Cowie commented: "Last year was a pretty good year, we had a lot of regular groups using the hall and already we've got three wedding dances booked for 2024.
"The Fishermen's Hall is not just about the main hall, we've got a number of other rooms for hire as well, including the Boyd Room. Among the room hires is for hearing tests once a week."
To find out more about what is on at the Fishermen's Hall and what it has to offer, visit its Facebook page or https://www.fishermenshall.co.uk/
