Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow has today welcomed the news that the Big Lottery Fund has awarded the Townhead Village Hall Project £1m to build a state of the art community centre.

The Village Hall has long been an aspiration of Townhead residents who have felt particularly isolated due to busy roads around Townhead. The idea is over a decade old and planning has taken place over the last five years.

Now, as the dream finally becomes reality residents are beginning to look forward to having a real focal point for the community.

It will also provide a much needed central access point for community resources and services, such as job training and an IT learning centre. This will be particularly essential for the young and disadvantaged in the area. Also planned for the Hall are committee rooms, offices, a café, and access to sports facilities.

Commenting on the project Glasgow MSP Sandra White said: “This is welcome news for Glasgow and the Townhead community. I am happy for them and pleased that the Big Lottery Fund has invested in this area.

“Townhead will now be able to use this much needed funding to strengthen the community and provide valuable resources to the people living in the area. Job training and learning centres will allow locals to explore new opportunities which for too long now have been very hard to come by.

“This village hall is a long sought after dream and I congratulate all those who have worked tirelessly for many years to make this dream come true.”

Note:

The Townhead Village Hall Project (TVHP) will now be able to build a state of the art village hall for local residents thanks to their £1 million grant. The people of Townhead have been working for over five years to turn their vision into a reality. Betty Dougan, chair of the Steering Group said: “We are a small community in the centre of Glasgow and we were looking for a community building that brought us closer together. The Steering Group felt that calling our new building, a village hall, showed what we were trying to achieve. We wanted a community building at the heart of our small community where we could meet and socialise. Once the building was called Townhead Village Hall the name stuck.”

Although Townhead is five minutes walk from Glasgow city centre many of the population are elderly or have young families and feel isolated because of busy roads. In addition there are no facilities for providers of health, employability and youth services.