Proposals to provide some of Anstruther’s most historic buildings with a £1.5 million facelift are progressing well.
Anstruther Improvements Association (AIA) is campaigning for upgrades to the Hew Scott Hall, Anstruther Wester Town Hall and St Nicholas Tower for future community use.
A sensitive restoration of the crumbling buildings could, it says, provide the town with a valuable resource to be enjoyed by many generations to come.
The building complex already forms part of a bid for grant funding to the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI), funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Last April £915,000 was awarded to Anstruther, with a large chunk set aside for the conservation and restoration of important local historic buildings.
The Hew Scott Hall and Wester Anstruther Town Hall, together with the Murray Library, are the two main priority projects in the initiative.
The second and final round application to the THI will be submitted in September, with a decision expected in December.
Meanwhile, Historic Scotland recently confirmed a grant of £500,000 for the town, and the AIA hope some of this money will be allocated to the project.
The buildings are owned by Fife Council and the Church of Scotland, who endorsed an “in principle” decision for the building to be sold to the AIA, given its status as a community-led charitable organisation.
The group is working closely with an external consultant, Fife Historic Buildings Trust and architects ARC on business and architectural plans to restore and improve the buildings.
In the long term it is hoped the campaign will attract sufficient support to upgrade facilities, making them suitable for performing arts events and community activities.
The provision of a community cafe is also being considered. Celebrity backing for the upgrade has come from singer KT Tunstall.
Next on the agenda for campaigners is a family ceilidh with music by Billy Anderson in the Hew Scott Hall on Thursday at 8pm, with tickets available from East Neuk Books on Rodger Street.
“The evening is one of a series of ‘Raise the Roof’ events organised by the AIA to bring together the community to demonstrate support for the campaign to improve these historic buildings,” a spokesman said.
“The AIA also urges readers from all over Fife to sign the online petition to support the project on www.petitiononline.com/AIA999/petition.html.”