Buckie community sports hub plans get ‘encouraging’ local support
Bold plans to create a community sports hub have been attracting enthusiastic support.
Welfare League side Buckie Rovers and Buckie Thistle Football Development (BTFD) have joined forces to create a community sports hub with the aim of improving and expanding the range of facilities in the area.
The main focus of the project is Rovers’ home at Merson Park and the pavilion there.
In order to move the scheme forward, the hub team are in the process of taking over ownership of the park and pavilion - which is currently owned by Buckie Common Fund and run by Moray Council - by means of a Community Asset Transfer (CAT).
The group have also attained their charity SCIO status.
Tuesday, June 3 saw the team hold a public meeting at Buckie Community High School with the aim of not only providing an update of progress made so far but also to attract more volunteers on board to drive the project forward.
Buckie Rovers president Mlke Coull said: “We had a good turnout with a lot of people there, which was very encouraging.
“There were a lot of good questions from the audience as well.
“One of the important things we’re trying to do is get as many people as possible - both individuals and groups - on board as possible and we had a good response to this at the meeting, with quite a few people taking membership forms away with them.
“This is a community hub so we’re very keen to encourage as many people and groups to get involved.”
Membership forms can be found on the sports hub Facebook page. Anyone requiring a hard copy is asked to message the Facebook page.
There was plenty for the team to update those at the meeting on.
Mr Coull continued: “At the moment we’re at the stage of bringing together the various pieces of the jigsaw so we can move forwards to our long vision for Merson Park and pavilion.
“We’ve applied for Land Fund stage 1 money to pay for a contractor to do a survey of the park and the pavilion to give us an idea of what we can and can’t do. We’ll need to see if the pavilion is up to specifications and can be revamped or whether we’ll have to look at building a new one.
“In terms of the CAT, part of the process of tasking the ground over from Common Good Fund involves having to go to court, which is expensive.
“Our long vision to create a facility that includes more than just changing rooms; we’re looking at having an open space, offices and a sports hall, all of which can be used for a lot of different purposes.
“It’s important to realise this isn’t just for football or kids, it’s for the whole community.
“This is a big project for Buckie and the surrounding area, especially with all those new houses due to be built at Buckpool.
“There’re so many uses for the hub by so many people, it really will be for the whole community.”
