ABBOT HOUSE could be closed in just SIX weeks if it fails to meet its £5000 fund-raising target – but generous West Fifers have already raised a fifth of the cash to help keep it going.

The Press are backing the much-loved museum’s campaign to stay open and were the first to break the news that Abbot House desperately needs the cash or faces closure by Easter.

Last week, we joined the campaign to help save the attraction, urging our readers and West Fife businesses to do whatever they could to help keep it open.

In the last two weeks, West Fifers have turned out in force – in person and online – to put another £1000 in the kitty but director Catherine Gillies (right) said there was still “a long way to go”.

She said, “The Press campaign has helped enormously. We’ve raised about £1000 – somebody came in with a cheque for £250! That sort of thing is just happening.

“A Tuesday in January is not exactly peak season but we’ve had lots of people in and it’s due to the profile raised in the Press.

“We had a very successful Burns Night on Sunday but we don’t know how much that would have made us yet.” She feels “confident” and “positive” that West Fifers are backing Abbot House and thanked them for being “vocally supportive” and “supporting us in a very open and free-handed way”.

However, she hopes the business community will do the same.

She said, “The community really wants this to go ahead but I really need to hear from the business community.

“John Muir Construction have given us £1000 and Khushi’s is going to hold a fund-raising night and give us the profits, which is fantastic.

“But that is it. The business community has been silent. I absolutely understand that business communities are very tight but I don’t know Dunfermline well enough to understand what the dynamic is.

“Every small town has its character and agendas. Everybody has a plan and I want to know what Dunfermline’s is.” Catherine also underlined the importance of Abbot House to the city centre’s economy.

She explained, “The heritage quarter at the moment is the Abbey, Abbot House and the Dunfermline Carnegie Library – which right now is a building site – and it will be rather dreich if we’re closed.

“If we don’t get this money, we will be closed in six weeks’ time, then we’ll have a really depressed quarter – and once you close, you don’t reopen fast.

“There’s a real push to bring the cruise liner trade into Dunfermline and if the library’s closed and Abbot House is closed – they won’t come back to this.

“The tourist industry needs Abbot House while the library’s closed. It will hit everybody if we’re not open.” Catherine is inviting individuals and businesses to Abbot House’s open meeting on Tuesday 3rd February from 1-2pm, where she will provide updates and open the floor for views.

She also highlighted that Just Enterprise, a Scottish Government-supported programme designed to help social enterprises, has allocated “valuable” business support to Abbot House.

Catherine explained, “They’re going to come in with a specialist and look at one aspect of what we’re doing, crunch it and see how we can improve it.

“I’ve seen places turn around just after a few days after a specialist has come in.

“They’re going to do a trading review of our cafe, shop and brew house, which is fantastic. Once you have been crunched by Just Enterprise, you come out stronger.”