THIS week's councillor column comes from SNP councillor for Helensburgh central, Lorna Douglas.

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THE Helensburgh Winter Festival went virtual this year and as chair I am delighted to say that it was a great success.

The reason we went virtual was because of our respect for community safety and the reason the event was successful was because of our community participation and support. At the time of writing this we have reached more than 45,000 people and had 25,000-plus engagements on Facebook.

Our long established and much loved penguin competition is still ongoing and we thank all the pupils for their wonderful drawings. If you haven’t already voted for your favourite penguin or bid for the football prizes, then there is still time.

READ MORE: Letters to the Advertiser: December 3, 2020

Many of the usual features we all love were there, only virtual. The penguins came to visit courtesy of Edinburgh Zoo, and the reindeer courtesy of the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre. The Rotary had a message from Santa for all our young people and the Round Table’s ‘Santa Dash’, taking place via Strava and ensuring public safety, will be ongoing for the duration of this month, so sign up and get running.

Our entertainment, from so many members of our talented community, was a great hit on our virtual stage and our stall holders and local businesses took part by submitting videos of cooking, storytelling and craft making.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to making this year’s virtual Helensburgh Winter Festival a huge community success and one with community safety always at the forefront of our minds.

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READ MORE: Ruth Wishart: Best to err on side of Christmas caution before vaccine

THE Helensburgh Community Hall, which I also chair, is another community success story.

With funding now secured for the purchase of the Red Cross Hall later this month, and the start of a development manager early next year, it is an exciting time for the committee and the community.

It’s been a challenging year for us all but I am confident that, like the festival, the project will be successful due to the commitment and determination of the committee and the support and participation of our community.

The community support for this initiative - which our committee are humbled and encouraged by - has been amazing with donations, membership submissions and letters of interest and support coming in throughout the year.

We can’t wait to be able to open our doors in 2021 and welcome everyone to this community resource, either in person or virtually or both. After all, it’s your space.

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