HELENSBURGH’S newest community facility will host an official opening event later this year - on the first anniversary of the building coming into community ownership.

The new Helensburgh Community Hub, on the corner of East Princes Street, will be officially opened on December 15 - around five months after a major refurbishment project was completed at the former Red Cross Hall.

Led by a group of volunteers, the building was bought for the community by Helensburgh Community Hall Ltd following a campaign to save it after it was put up for sale by the charity in 2018.

Thanks to a fund-raising drive, and interior and exterior improvements, the upgraded hub opened its doors in late July, and already there are a raft of clubs and organisations meeting at the site including craft groups, Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank and a new youth club which launched at the end of August.

The official opening before Christmas will celebrate the progress so far and show members of the public what the hub can offer in future.

Hub chair Lorna Douglas said: “We are so pleased to be able to show the community what has been achieved over the past three years, and what amazing potential there is for this to become a thriving hub for the community.

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“There are so many people we want to thank for their support, so we hope they will come along on December 15 and celebrate with us.

“We also want to introduce more people to the hub to see what a great community facility it is.”

The hub has a main hall, a suite of offices that are rented to non-profit organisations and a library space, which houses the weekly book sale run by volunteers with money raised from it going towards the upkeep and development of the building.

New development manager Gill Simpson, who took over from Eddie Cusick at the end of July, said: “We are putting together a whole programme of events for the launch that will give people ideas about what the hub could become in the future.

“Central to our plan is developing the library space, which is a fantastic resource already and could become even more.

“Our slogan is ‘It’s your space’ and we mean it. In the coming months we will be talking to as many Helensburgh folk as possible about what they would like to see happen in the hub.”