A HOST of volunteers have offered their help in refurbishing Helensburgh's Tower Digital Arts Centre in time for re-opening later this year - with the aim of making the venue "the place to be" in the town.

The Tower, a registered charity staffed largely by volunteers, has been shut to the public for the duration of 2021 - indeed the Sinclair Street centre's doors have been closed for the majority of the last 18 months due to the pandemic.

Home of Helensburgh's two digital cinemas, the town's theatre, and host to numerous arts organisations in the area, the events space is planned to welcome back customers in the final quarter of the year.

But before any blockbuster films can be shown on the big screen once again some improvement works are set to take place inside the popular building.

In a social media appeal for assistance at the beginning of July, a post read: "It’s great to know that our community is behind us and willing us to re-open, but after 18 months of closure (minus a few days over the Christmas period) our beloved Tower is in need of a wee bit of TLC.

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"If you have some skills and time, we’d love to hear from you. We are looking for people who can sand, paint, up-cycle, clean, use carpentry/gardening skills etc to give The Tower a bit of a mini facelift.

"If you, or anyone you know might be able to help, we would love to hear from you."

Offers of help have not been in short supply and this week Tower volunteer Donna Hicks told the Advertiser: "We’ve had a great response from the lovely people of Helensburgh and we probably now have enough volunteers.

"We’d love to hear from any electricians who may be in a position to offer us some assistance.

"On Monday we had eight local people come in to meet with us and they were super keen to give up their time and do what they can to help.

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"It’s clear that the community have missed The Tower and want to get involved to see it re-open.

"The James Bond film was the ‘big film’ due for release prior to lockdown, and it’s release date is now September 30, 2021, so that’s the date we’re aiming for.

"Obviously we don’t want to run before we can walk, but we are excited about the future and envisage the venue as a hub for live events and live music, as well as a truly unique cinema experience."

Donna was joined at the start of the week by The Tower's general manager, Dave Dunbar, who is also technical director of the Scottish Submarine Centre in West King Street which re-opened to the public at the end of June.

Anyone interested in helping out at The Tower is asked to email Donna.Tower@outlook.com for more information.

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