DUNFERMLINE’S Gillespie Memorial Church will hold a launch night next month after a godsend of £250,000 helped transform the building into a community hub.

The cash, from the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Spaces Scotland scheme, has gone towards refurbishing the Gillespie Centre, a former Salvation Army hall next to the church which was bought in 1986.

Work included raising the floor to create a cafe facility, three new meeting rooms, disabled access and toilets, an open-plan office area, a replanned kitchen, energy-efficiency measures and roof lights.

It’s now ready to accommodate a greater variety of activities and number of visitors, which church treasurer Derek Bottom said helps serve the community better.

He told the Press, “We can already see how busy it is, which is fabulous. It’s a transformed building, it’s so bright and extremely warm.

“Already we’re seeing groups being able to operate at the same time in different spaces.

“There are a number of activities in the centre every morning, almost every evening and two afternoons during the week.

“Groups can now have separate rooms and use the building at the same time.

“We had about 15 or 16 groups using it, now we’ve got more than 20 using the facility, and that doesn’t include the church groups.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have so many groups so quickly having completed the work.” Groups which use the facility include the Brownies, Guides, Fife Action for Autism, Frontline Fife, The Grange Centre, Fife Council social work and the Street Pastors – and that number could increase as the building now has network cabling and 30 data points for laptops.

Mr Bottom explained, “We’ve tried as much as possible to future-proof the building and it will enable people to log in and access the internet.

“We’re hoping it will encourage groups such as job clubs to use the building to help people apply for jobs, claim benefits etc.” He said the church’s location next to the bus station made it easy for West Fifers to come along for activities, adding, “It serves as a central point for many of the outlying areas and means people only have to get one bus to get here.” The launch event is at 5.45pm on 4th November.

Mr Bottom said, “It’s a chance to bring people together to deliver services to celebrate and have a conversation with each other and understand each other’s plans better for Dunfermline.” Helen Law, chair of the City of Dunfermline area committee, said, “Fife Council is proud to be associated with the launch of this valuable addition to our town centre community recourse mix.

“The Gillespie Church are to be commended for pulling in a significant sum of money to refurbish this hall in an effort to cater for all kinds of community activity.

“Their vision fits well with Fife Council’s drive to work in partnership with local communities and we are keen to support activity where the local people are taking the lead.”