AFTER 18 months of being out in the cold, members of Dalgety Bay Art Club have regrouped with the opening up of their clubhouse, thanks to a lottery grant.

Since the start of the first lockdown due to coronavirus, the club has kept going via Zoom meetings, email and some socially-distanced, 'plein air' activities.

President Susan Masson said: “It has been wonderful that throughout the pandemic, contact with the members has been maintained through social media.

"However, many of our members are retired so look forward each week to the social aspect of meeting others and at the same time indulge in their artistic passion.

“When the time came to re-open our premises, we realised that although we had been doing weekly checks on the integrity of our old wooden clubhouse, it was obvious that a quick vacuum would not do and in line with official recommendation, a deep clean was needed.

"This was something we couldn’t tackle ourselves.”

To help with the cost of cleaning the club and installing anti-virus measures, the club applied for a grant from the People’s Postcode Trust, funded by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, and were delighted to be awarded funding which has meant a safe and clean environment for members to meet.

Susan concluded: “Without this support from the People’s Postcode Lottery and People’s Postcode Trust, we perhaps wouldn’t have been able to re-open so soon.

"Because of this help, our members are comfortable in returning and we certainly would not have been able to re-establish our education and demonstration programme so quickly which, assuming all goes well, we hope to resume early in the new year.”

Dalgety Bay Art Club was established in 1981 and is open to anyone over 18.

The club welcomes anyone from complete beginner or more experienced who is interested in art, craft and photography. Information on the club can be found on the website at https://www.dalgetybayartclub.com.