ONE of Dunfermline’s oldest and most historic attractions needs to find £5000 immediately – or shut its doors by Easter.

Abbot House desperately needs the cash injection to ride out the next three months and avoid falling into the red.

New director Catherine Gillies, who took up her post last Monday, said it is currently solvent but the cash crisis is the “most severe it’s ever been”.

She told the Press, “We have to find £5000 more than we’re ordinarily bringing in at this time of year, £10,000 to be really safe so we can start to reinvest.

“If you’re a charity, as we are, you can’t knowingly trade in deficit and we’ve reached a pinch point.

“We haven’t gone into the red but we are £5000 off the red. We will go into the red by March and that’s what we can’t do – we will have to stop trading.

“At the moment we are solvent but by projected cash flow, that is what could happen by March.” Catherine underlined that Dunfermline “cannot afford to lose Abbot House”, and that “it’s in everybody’s interest that Abbot House keeps going”.

She said, “It’s not just about saving Abbot House, it’s about saving Dunfermline’s heritage quarter.

“There’s this fabulous new museum going up which is going to be a flagship museum for Scotland, and Dunfermline Abbey which is such an important heritage attraction.

“How would it be if the new museum opens up and there’s a beautiful building next door with its lights out? It’d be like a mouth with a tooth missing.” Catherine added, “We’ve had long-standing staff who are very anxious and I’d really like to wipe the anxiety off their faces. They absolutely love this place.

“Volunteers are used to it when it’s happened over the years, and there was a danger staff and volunteers would think, ‘Oh, it will be all right’.

“That’s why I took the unprecedented step on my second day and told them this is no bluff – we really are in a hard place now.

“Once we’re into the season and if we can stay out of the red till then, we can take it up.” Fife Council and the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust have helped shore up Abbot House in the past, but budget cuts have had an impact on funding.

Catherine added, “The recession has hit very, very hard. Fife Council and the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust have helped in the past and have been very generous, but the pressure on them is absolutely immense.

“Nobody is saying, ‘Oh they’re not helping out’. There’s a complete understanding that lines have been drawn.” John Muir Construction has given the fund-raising efforts a “fantastic start” with a £1000 cheque and Catherine is appealing to West Fifers to get behind the much-loved attraction.

She said, “The cheque from John Muir Construction gave us all such a fillip.

“That’s a purely philanthropic gift and if we could get another four like that it will help us strike through. If we could get another nine like that we will have enough for reinvesting.

“Everybody can come and support in a small way – even just coming in and buying cups of tea!” A range of offers are being launched to attract more custom, including traditional afternoon teas, a new menu, a Burns’ Night dinner, second-hand book exchange and the 50-50 Club.

A ‘Knit and Natter’ group starts today (Thursday), with a Bookbug group for toddlers launching in the February school holidays and a series of art workshops starting in the spring.