Merkinch Welfare Hall
FIT FOR THE FUTURE
Monika Maleszka-Ritchie
Matt Ritchie
Merkinch Welfare Hall
FIT FOR THE FUTURE
Monika Maleszka-Ritchie
Matt Ritchie
“It was a place to meet,
that’s what it was all about”
George Cameron (extract from the Oral History Archive)
Photo: Tsara Cole
Introduction
The Merkinch Welfare Hall has been at the
heart of the local community for over one
hundred years. But although the historic
building has its roots in the local community, it
is a building that contributes to our national
heritage too. It is a rare example of a purpose-
built temperance hall, built for the
The ‘Fit for the Future’ project took its
inspiration from the past, as throughout its
working life the Merkinch Welfare Hall has
been a focal point for social events and
sporting activities within the community. The
2016 restoration has delivered a gym and
changing rooms on the ground floor for the
Catch-my-Pal Union in 1914. The original
Inverness City Boxing Club and offices for the
my-Pal Union were ordinary working men
addition, school and community projects have
trustees of the Merkinch Branch of the Catchfrom the area. They aimed to encourage
young men to abstain from drinking by
providing social activities and support, all
housed in a building that provided the
welcoming atmosphere of the bar (but
without the bottle).
Merkinch Partnership on the first floor. In
charted the course of the restoration project,
with creative artwork, oral and archival
historical research and documentary
photography. The project has brought a
significant building back into productive use,
once again making a positive contribution to
the local community.
“My Great Granda remembers when it was used as a
meeting hall for working men where they held concerts and
played games and no drink was allowed”
Morgan Brodie-Maclean (aged 10, Merkinch Primary School)
The Origins of the
Merkinch Welfare Hall
Over the course of the nineteenth century,
Scotland was torn between the success of
Victorian technological development and
engineering, and the social problems wrought
by industrialisation and poor quality social
housing. Drunkenness was increasingly seen
as a serious social problem to be tackled by
both legislation and the influence of
temperance movements. The Scottish
Temperance League was set up in 1844 and
pressure for the introduction of legislation to
curb the problems of excessive drinking led to
the Forbes-Mackenzie Act of 1853 in which
Sunday closing was enforced and a weekday
closing time of 11pm imposed. Various other
temperance movements were founded,
holding rallies and meetings at which pledges
of abstinence from alcohol would be made
and temperance halls and public water
fountains were built in order to provide
alternatives to the functions of public bars. By
the end of the nineteenth century,
temperance halls had sprung up in every
major city and town in Scotland. There were
several operating in Inverness around the turn
of the twentieth century.
Given the number of organisations dedicated
to the cause of temperance, it may seem
surprising that another major temperance
movement should emerge in the years
leading up to the outbreak of the First World
War, spreading like wildfire through the towns
and cities of Great Britain.
Photo: Johanne Kemp
“We believe that there should be counterattractions to the saloon in almost every street in our towns, and we have
opened many in Ireland. Men do not love the drink so much as they love the fellowship they get in drinking with
their friends. If the Christian community would provide up-to-date Temperance saloons, more comfortable in every
way than the licensed saloons, these would be patronised in a way that would surprise the most hopeful of us. Men
and women say they go to the saloons because they have no other places to go to. If other places were provided in
such a way as to attract, instead of repel, as is often the case, people would be ashamed to be seen going into the
drinkshops. If they passed a temperance saloon to go into a saloon, it would be known it was for alcohol they did so,
and the sense of shame would assert itself. Public opinion would then have a method of making itself felt. And, after
all, it is public opinion that does the work.”
An extract from The Happy Art of Catching Men: A Story of Good Samaritanship, by the Rev. RJ Patterson,
the founder of the Catch-my-Pal movement (1914)
“Comfortable and commodious
halls and clubroom have been
opened in the Merkinch district
The Catch-my-Pal Union was founded in 1909
for the local branch of the
Catch-my-Pal.”
by the Rev Robert J Patterson, an Armagh
An extract from the Aberdeen Evening
minister of the Irish Presbyterian Church.
Express (23rd December 1914)
Patterson sets out the objectives and origins
of the Catch-my-Pal Union in his book The
Happy Art of Catching Men: A Story of Good
Samaritanship, published in New York in 1914.
Patterson’s approach was to conduct mass
meetings at which those subscribing to the
cause were asked to take a pledge for total
abstinence. In the first year in Ireland 140,000
men and women joined the Union, and within
two years there were no less than 500
finance their new building (built on the site of
a previous hall), the trustees of the Merkinch
Branch of the Catch-my-Pal Union took out a
bond of £400 with the Inverness Investment
and Permanent Building Society in the autumn
of 1914. Other funding for the erection of the
hall – and for fitting it out – is believed to have
branches. Three branches of the Catch-my-Pal
been raised locally. Mrs Robert Cook, mother
Street, Academy Street and Grant Street in
ceremony.
Union were founded in Inverness, on Celt
Merkinch.
The trustees of the Merkinch Branch of the
Union were all likely to be local men: James
of Joseph Cook, performed the opening
However, after the First World War, with so
few servicemen returning home, the Catch-
my-Pal Union lost its initial spark and brio, and
Walker (of Walker's Sawmill) and Joseph Cook
the Merkinch Branch soon became moribund.
Macgruther was a coal merchant; William
the leadership of the prominent Inverness
(his cousin), both timber merchants; John
Elliot a flesher; Norman Smith a stevedore
and James Sinclair a signal fitter. In order to
The Academy Street Branch continued under
baker, William Anderson, and was host to talks
and concerts. It was also the base of one of
During the interwar years the hall was in
constant use, with meetings and social events
such as parties and wedding receptions
arranged to take place there during each
night of the week. The Girl Guides, the
Merkinch Women’s Guild and the Post Office
the more successful football teams in the
amateur North Caledonian Football League.
The ‘Catch-My-Pal’ team were league
champions in the season 1924-5. They must
have been a talented side as theirs is the only
Inverness team known to have played in the
Scottish Junior Cup in the 1920s (reaching the
second round in 1924 where they played
Forthill Athletic). However, the Merkinch
Welfare Hall was still the property of the Union
and in the 1918-1919 Valuation Roll the
Recreational Club were all prominent users,
with the Post Office using upstairs for a table
tennis club. The Hall was also put to good use
in other ways. Mrs Davidson was a Merkinch
midwife who delivered over 300 babies. She
started a welfare project based in the
Merkinch Welfare Hall in the 1920’s. This
involved showing mothers how to wash their
babies properly and make sure that they were
fed correctly. She would weigh them and
keep charts of their progress. She would also
tell them to check if their children had head
property is listed, as a ‘Hall, Store, and Baths’,
lice and what to do about it.
desperate short term need for the local
During the Second World War the building
suggesting that it could have fulfilled a
community or, more probably, functioned as a
result of requisitioning during the war. In
1923/24, the responsibility for running the Hall
fell to the Merkinch Ward Welfare Association,
a local organisation established in 1921.
was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force,
under which it operated as a dental surgery
for all of the troops in the area. In the post-war
years it was used frequently for dances,
concerts and talent contests.
Photo: Johanne Kemp
Lost and found
During the removal of the floor boards in the
ground floor of the Hall, the workmen of
McGregor Construction Ltd found a time capsule
of their own: a handbag (empty) and a few bottles
of beer (long past their sell-by-date). The carry-out
was lost in the 1940s and included two bottles of
J&J Morison’s Indian Pale Ale (an Edinburgh
brewer), two bottles of Murray's Pale Ale (from
Craigmillar in Edinburgh) and an unlabelled beer
from Whitbreads of London.
“The work of the Catch-my-Pal movement
[has seen] countless redeemed lives in
places so far apart as Inverness and
Sydney, Stratford-on-Avon and Toronto,
Armagh and Kingston (Jamaica), Arnheim
in Holland and Portland (Oregon).”
An extract from The Happy Art of
Catching Men: A Story of Good
Samaritanship, by the Rev. RJ Patterson,
the founder of the Catch-my-Pal
movement (1914).
Photo: Rachel Forrest
The Bingo
The Judo Club
In the 1950s, the building was used as a bingo
For many years in the 1960s (upstairs) and
hall on two or three occasions each week by
Clachnacuddin Football Club, under the
auspices of George Rodgers, a director of the
club who was later to become President of the
Merkinch and District Welfare Association.
“My grandfather was a trustee of the
Clach club who regularly had social
functions there. My dad would go in
the next day to clean the ashtrays but
he always left me to do the cleaning.
It was very scary being left alone in
there and I always thought there was
ghosts in it!”
Douglas Rogers (extract from the Oral History
Archive, collected by Jason Florence, aged 9)
“I used to get half a crown to clean
after the bingo, brushing up and
collecting all the little squares…”
Peter Corbett (extract from the Oral
History Archive)
1980s (downstairs) the main occupant of the
Hall was the popular Inverness Judo Club run
by local solicitor Ken MacLeod.
“We moved into the Hall in 1961,
using the upstairs room for the Judo
Club. But the problem was that Judo
people are always bouncing up and
down, and on two occasions we
brought the ceiling down!”
Ken MacLeod (extract from the Oral
History Archive)
“Judo, weddings, bingo, whist drives
– there was a lot going on in that
Hall at one time!”
Dell McClurg (extract from the Oral
History Archive)
Photo: Elizabeth A. Fraser
The Boxing Club
The Judo Club tackled the first phase of dry
rot repairs in the late 1990s, but ultimately it
could not afford the upkeep of the building.
After the Judo Club vacated the Welfare Hall,
Merkinch Enterprise continued to take an
interest in securing the future of the site, and
“I used to go to the Hall for the
boxing. When I was lazy I used to
walk up the railway line and jump
off the buildings beside the river as
a short cut”
George Cameron (extract from the Oral
History Archive)
it is through this local organisation that the
restoration of the Hall has been achieved. The
prolonged abandonment of the building had
unfortunately taken its toll. Due to the
deterioration of the timberwork as a result of
prolonged water penetration, much of the
original timberwork had to be replaced. The
development opportunities for people living
in Merkinch to participate in a range of
projects and activities focused on the themes
of employability and employment, training
and learning, volunteer development and
roof from the original extension was also
building community leadership skills.
trusses could be renovated; and the original
An important landmark in the local
removed so that the decorative timber roof
internal fixtures were all taken down with
great care and are now restored to their
former glory.
The building restoration has delivered a gym
and changing rooms on the ground floor for
the Inverness City Boxing Club and rooms for
the Merkinch Partnership on the first floor. The
Merkinch Partnership provides community
streetscape, there is also no other physical
evidence in Inverness of the huge impact of
the Catch-My-Pal Union. Although changes
have been made to the building over its life,
they have been relatively few. Merkinch
Welfare Hall is an attractive and significant
part of our shared heritage and, thanks to the
Heritage Lottery Fund and our other funding
partners, the building is now fit for the future.
The building
The Merkinch Welfare Hall was constructed in
1914. The layout of the building and the
relative sophistication of the design of the
street frontage all point to the fact that the
the quality of materials and fittings in
nineteenth century bars and saloons. The
plain but elegant fireplaces would have
generated good heat in the spacious, airy
Merkinch Catch-My-Pal Union trustees must
rooms.
although the identity of the architect has not
The architectural scheme for the restoration of
have engaged the services of a local architect,
been recorded. There was recognition in the
Temperance movement of the great draw of
bars and saloons, not least for the convivial
surroundings, fireplaces providing warmth,
and, just as importantly, the company and
fellowship of others. In designing and fitting
out a bespoke Temperance building, the
Catch-My-Pal Union aimed to at least match
the building created a flexible space at
ground floor level, with a partition that could
be closed to create a small meeting room at
the front, or folded back for those times when
a larger space was merited for public
gatherings. The ground floor meeting room,
which had its own fireplace on the west gable,
must have incorporated the temperance
saloon so favoured by the organisation to
attract passers-by off the street. The room to
the rear had much greater height, with a
dramatic king post roof supported on stone
corbels. This room was well suited to
recreational use, perhaps as a billiards hall. It
would have been a light and airy space, with
three sets of roof lights on the long sides and
a single roof light on the piended or sloping
hipped end.
“I went to the doors of the saloons to
see things for myself. I saw that the
saloons were usually well filled and,
in many cases, crowded. Wherever
there are saloons there is drinking.
Wherever there is drinking there is
drunkenness. Wherever there is
drunkenness there is much need of
saving the drunkards.”
An extract from The Happy Art of Catching
Men: A Story of Good Samaritanship, by the
Rev. RJ Patterson, the founder of the Catch-
my-Pal movement (1914)
Photo: Rachel Forrest
Photo: Gordon Macleod
“I went to the doors of the saloons
to see things for myself. I saw that
the saloons were usually well filled
The first floor includes a large room, with
fireplaces at each end, which would have
provided further meeting space, or possibly
space for planned activities. This room would
have had good daylight, with three sets of
wide dormer windows. The timber stair
leading to the first floor rooms is well
detailed, as are the five-panelled doors and
the fireplaces, all supplied to the same plain,
but elegant, pattern. Indeed, the words plain
but elegant could be used to describe the
building as a whole, with the functionality of
the rooms and exterior façade enhanced by
good quality workmanship and design.
The Hall is substantially unaltered, with many
simple elegant details of design, finish,
materials and workmanship still visible. High
quality materials were used for both exterior
and interior finishes and fittings and it makes
a significant contribution to the streetscape.
The Welfare Hall’s simple elegance is
expressed in the subtle advanced and
recessed bays to the street façade.
Pedimented dormers with an unusual swept
and, in many cases, crowded.
Wherever
saloons
there
central finial there
create aare
lively
roofline and
the is
modulated façade is given further interest
drinking.
Wherever there is
drinking
is drunkenness.
window on there
the central
bay. These details are
with flattened scrolls surrounding the upper
sharply worked
in crisp
sandstone,
Wherever
there
is drunkenness
there
is much need of saving the
characteristic of the high quality of materials
drunkards.”
building, both inside and out. The ogee cast
and craftsmanship in evidence throughout the
iron guttering, decorative wall head
An extract from The Happy Art of Catching
ventilation grill and the decorative hopper
Men: A Story of Good Samaritanship, by
head all reflect the high quality materials and
the Rev. RJ Patterson, the founder of the
good survival rates.
Catch-my-Pal movement (1914)
The Drum Clock
Today, the Hall is readily identified by the
Drum Clock, hanging below the central
dormer. In 1929, Donald Maclennan, a
candidate at the local elections for the Town
Council, used the hall for his address to a
packed gathering. After winning a seat on the
Council, in September 1931 he proposed a
motion that the Drum Clock should be
removed from the town steeple on Bridge
Street and relocated onto the Welfare Hall on
Grant Street. The motion was carried and the
Merkinch Welfare Hall gained its most
prominent feature.
The Drum Clock was removed from the face of
the Hall for repair. This enabled an
investigation into the construction of the clock.
The clock is made of wood (like a barrel) with a
metal coating. It was originally painted black
but the paint oxidised and gave the clock its
green colour, with a gold or yellow crown and
decoration. This type of clock is often named a
turret clock or a public clock. The clock was
originally weight-driven (operated by weights
that, under gravity, drive the hands of the clock
by means of a gear train). However, in the late
1970s it was converted to electrical power and
most likely also at this point painted grey.
“Rutherfords the Watchmaker
used to wind the clock twice a
year, when the clocks were put
forward or back. But if the clock
stopped any other time, they were
told pretty quickly!”
Peter Corbett (extract from the Oral
History Archive)
Photo: Monika Maleszka-Ritchie
“Under the clock on a Saturday night, you were more or less
guaranteed a fight, there would be a circle after the pubs closed”
Ron Geddes (extract from the Oral History Archive)
Lindsay Macdonald (the great great
granddaughter of John McFarquhar who may
have made the Drum Clock) got in touch with
the project and passed on some information.
Bridge Street, should be erected at the foot of
Inglis Street beside Walker’s Emporium.”
However, as we have seen, it actually went to
the Merkinch Hall as the result of an
John the clockmaker lived in Merkinch
intervention by Donald Maclennan.
mentioned in the census of 1841 as lodging
The Inverness Courier (15th September 1931)
between the 1850s and 1880s. He is
with Hugh Ross and family in Dingwall with his
wife Margaret. John’s occupation is listed as a
clockmaker. However, at the time when the
clock was constructed and mounted (by the
end of 1890), John McFarquhar (who was
born in 1811 and died in 1892) would have
been in his late 70s. He also appeared on the
Killearnan Poor Roll in 1886, partially disabled
but earning a little cleaning clocks.
The clock was originally hung on the Town
Steeple, on the corner of Church Street and
reported that “by seven votes to six, the
council agreed a motion of Mr Donald
Maclennan that the Drum Clock, at present in
Bridge Street, be removed and re-erected on
a site to be selected in Grant Street and that
the matter be remitted to the Common Good
Committee for consideration as to the
carrying out of the work. Mr Maclennan
maintained that the clock would be an
advantage to the people of the Merkinch and
Baillie. J J S Fraser seconded. Ex Baillie
Donald Macdonald moved the previous
Bridge Street. The Inverness Courier (5th May
question and said that the Drum Clock was an
“Inverness Town Council at their meeting last
should not be moved. Mr M D Mackintosh
contained in a letter from Mr James Forsyth,
motion was carried as stated.”
1931) reported on a new site for the clock:
night agreed to adopt the suggestion
Inverness, that the Drum Clock presently in
old landmark in Inverness and he felt that it
seconded, but on the vote being taken, the
The Community projects
An ambitious and inclusive outreach
programme ran alongside the repair and
restoration of the Merkinch Welfare Hall. The
interlinked projects and activities included
open days, street art, historic archive research,
public lectures, photographic workshops and
training courses, school learning opportunities
and community IT (Information and
Technology) initiatives. The local community
had the chance to ‘see behind the scenes’
during the building repair and development.
The vision behind the community outreach
programme was that “Understanding our past
is important in preparing for tomorrow. We
want to see this once thriving community hub
reclaim its place in the centre of Merkinch and
help to ensure this noble building is truly fit
for the future.”
“I found it a pleasure to help carry
out historical research on the
building, discovering its origins
and what it stood for. It also
brought to the fore some familiar
names of yesteryear. I am
fascinated with the Drum Clock
and it too had a few tales to tell”
Anne C MacKintosh (Inverness Local
History Forum)
The Photography Group
The Merkinch Welfare Hall: Documentary
Photography Group, led by professional
photographer John MacPherson, recorded
not only progress of the restoration works but
also the people involved. The group sought to
place the Merkinch Welfare Hall within its own
local context and within the context of other
historic buildings in Inverness and the
Highlands. The Group also received
Alongside the serious business of recording
the building there was still plenty of
opportunity to have fun. While the
Documentary Photography Group was
learning about photography in low light
conditions, the Hall also played host to some
great glow stick-inspired photography (thanks
to volunteer Tsara Cole).
professional training in historic building
photography for survey and recording from
the Scotland’s Urban Past project.
"The thing I loved about the
project was getting to witness and
document an abandoned shell of a
building getting a new lease of life.
Even abandoned things can be
beautiful with a bit of work"
Tsara Cole (Documentary Photography Group)
“I really enjoyed
learning about different
kinds of photography
and seeing the changes
in the Hall as it was
renovated”
Elizabeth A. Fraser
(Documentary Photography
Group)
Photo: Monika Maleszka-Ritchie
“The Documentary Photography course was both enlightening and
informative. I shall use the knowledge gained for the rest of my life and
hope to pass it on to my grandson. To see the hall as it was and its
amazing transformation and to record this process was a once in a
lifetime chance – and to have fun doing it was a bonus!”
Chris Renwick (Documentary Photography Group)
The Time Capsule
A Time Capsule was buried in the Hall with
the help of children from Merkinch Primary
school and invited guests. The time capsule
was a fun opportunity to explore the history
and heritage of the Hall with school pupils,
staff and the wider community, allowing
people an opportunity to engage in creating
future heritage. The children enjoyed
collaborating across their classes and worked
really hard on the content. The time capsule
contains objects and mementos chosen by
children from the school – a school jumper,
photographs of the school and stories about
Merkinch written by the children.
“The time capsule was a
chance to mark the new life
breathed into the Hall. We
looked back into the history
of the Hall and the people
who used it – and looked
forward into the future of the
Hall and thought about the
people who will use and
enjoy it.”
Monika Maleszka-Ritchie
(Merkinch Welfare Hall Learning
and Outreach Officer)
The Street Art Project
The results of the Merkinch Welfare Hall: Fit
for the Future Street Art project were hung on
the hoardings outside of the Merkinch
Welfare Hall restoration. The amazing graffiti
panels echo the past and future uses of the
Hall. They were created by pupils from
Inverness High School, with guidance and
tuition provided by expert street artist
Marc Delaye.
The creative Street Art graffiti project helped
to engage young people from Merkinch with
the restoration of the Temperance Hall. The
project aimed to develop confidence within
the group through the creative process and to
promote team work and collaboration
between team members. The final exhibition
has been mounted (in two parts) on the
hoardings of the Merkinch Welfare Hall and
displays a high standard of individual artwork
within a coherent and colourful ensemble. The
young artists first learned 'can control' (to be
able to work freehand) and also 'stencil'
techniques.
“We promoted team work and
collaboration between team
members, in order to achieve a
high standard for the final
artwork – and aimed to show
individual artwork within a
coherent and colourful ensemble.
The artwork was inspired by the
past and future use of the
Merkinch Welfare Hall, via the
temperance movement, the early
20th century architecture itself
and the future of the building as a
boxing club.”
Marc Delaye (Fresh Paint)
There are twelve panels for the Street Art
project, inspired by the past and future use of
the Merkinch Welfare Hall. The first five
represent the past and present, depicting the
temperance Catch-My-Pal Union with the clear
message of the drunk man and the women
who were fighting temptation. The future is
represented in the panels depicting the
Merkinch Welfare Hall full of life as a vibrant
boxing club.
Taking part in the project from Inverness High
School were Chloe Connell, Caitlin
Mackintosh, James Newlands, Michael
Shields-Stevenson, Louise Watt, Caitlin Hunter,
Aidyn Jones, Kuba Logocki, Jack Mackenzie,
Chantelle McLeod and Calum Stewart.
“We are all so proud of what the young artists
have achieved. They have taken inspiration from
both the past and the future of the Hall and, in
doing so, have shown both their own pride of place
and their hopes and aspirations for the future.
Their amazing creative expression contributed to
daily life in Merkinch while the Hall was
undergoing restoration, bringing colour to what
were dull hoardings. What better way to celebrate
the rebirth of a community hub than by enrolling
young citizens to champion the process?”
Monika Maleszka-Ritchie (Merkinch Welfare Hall: Fit for the
Future Learning and Engagement Officer)
Final Words
The design team were LDN Architects, Torrance Partnership Surveyors, Irons Foulner Service
Engineers, Arch Henderson Structural Engineers and Mia Scott Associates. The project was
delivered by McGregor Construction. A huge thanks to everyone who contributed their time,
expertise and enthusiasm to help make this project happen!
“It is hard to believe the
rollercoaster that we've been on
with this project, from the
optimism of that first community
consultation on a warm summer
evening in July 2009, to the nadir
of rejection by the Big Lottery Fund
and the fears that the roof might
collapse at any moment. Yet here
we are now, with the Merkinch
Welfare Hall restored and poised to
open its doors once again to the
“It has been a pleasure to be
involved in a project with such a
spirit of cooperation. The finished
result is a credit to McGregor
Construction”
Ian Fraser (LDN Architects)
“I am proud to have helped to
bring our Welfare Hall back to its
former glory and know that it will
serve the community well for many
community. Wonderful!”
years to come”
Mia Scott (Project Manager)
Terry Ellison (Merkinch Enterprise Manager)
"It has been a privilege to
"We specialise in refurbishment work, but I have
people on restoring Merkinch
the Hall took a lot of effort but was very
have worked alongside so
many skilled and enthusiastic
Welfare Hall. The project is a
marvellous example of how
conservation projects can
play a significant role in
helping regenerate places and
communities."
yet to work on a more dilapidated building, with
wet rot and wood worm everywhere. To restore
rewarding work. Our joiners produced some
great feats of joinery – so much so that the
architect asked them to sign their work – and
our workshop successfully reproduced all of the
features that had to be replaced.”
Phil MacPherson (McGregor Construction Building Site Manager)
Tom Duff (LDN Architects)
“The Welfare Hall was a
“Being involved with various aspects of
big project and took a lot of
the Welfare Hall project has reinforced my
it is today, back into
reconnecting with my community through
time and effort from a lot
of people to get it to where
community use. It proves it
can be done!”
Dell McClurg (Merkinch Community
Council)
connection with the community and connected
heritage. I’ve had such a refreshing experience
discovering wee historical gems and in engaging
with lots of different people. Aye, we are now fit
for the future, with an old town building vibe,
revamped for a big city community tribe!"
Marcus Bruce Konoso
Photo: John MacPherson
"Being part of this project has meant
a lot to me. For many years my
family has had a connection with the
hall and I'm glad to be part of
bringing the past, present and future
of the hall together."
Gordon Macleod