The Castlemilk Hall Trustees set out their vision for the hall in 2020 and refreshed it again in 2022. On both of these occasions we affirmed that our priorities were to increase storage for the nursery and the Drama in order to release space for our Heritage room and, most importantly, to have an accessible toilet and permanent accessible ramp that would be in keeping with this venerable building presented to the community in 1893.

The community in Carmunnock have been very supportive of our fundraising efforts and to date we have raised over £8000.

We have applied for various grants in the past and although we were successful in securing funds for developing our Heritage space ( Windfarm Trust and Adapt and Thrive) unfortunately, none of them was of sufficient value to allow us to proceed with any major construction projects, although the Hall is now enhanced by deep cleaning, repainting and the installation of electric blinds.

Our local garage, Performance Tyres, offered to support us with a 40 foot container for storage. However the cost of the groundworks and the need for a crane to install the container meant we have had to postpone this option.

We have achieved our status as a SCIO, a Scottish Charity Incorporated Organisation, meaning that we will be more attractive to grant funders since our charity status has now been upgraded.

Recently the Architectural Heritage Foundation gave us a Project Viability Grant which has allowed us to engage a Heritage Architect and to bring in a structural engineer to advise on how we can move forward with our building.

We're confident that the resulting report will give sufficient information to the Architectural Heritage Fund who may then continue to assist us with a Project Development Grant. It feels like stepping stones, however once these findings are in place we are hopeful of being able to approach a grant fundraiser with sufficient means to support us with the costs required (as yet unknown, but expected to be considerable) to build a ramp and toilet as well as storage to release the meeting room and provide a heritage area fit for purpose in Carmunnock.

We are most grateful to everyone for their support and understanding.