Brechiners have been thanked for the part they have played in making the community-led takeover of the City Hall a success.
There were fears the opening of the £26 million Brechin community campus earlier this year might signal the death knell for town centre facility, but talks with Angus Council led to a volunteer-managed set-up coming into place in June.
The user group committee has staged a number of successful events since taking over the reins, and the hall continues to be the venue for the regular showings at the town’s community cinema.
Management executive chairman Kenny Christie has revealed ambitious plans lie ahead for 2017, and has encouraged locals to turn out to an open meeting early in the new year to hear about the plans and offer support.
“We would like to take the opportunity to thank all the citizens of Brechin for the support they have shown to the City Hall during the year,” said Mr Christie.
“In true Brechin style, when the long term future of the hall was in jeopardy people rose to the challenge and we have been running the venue as a community-led venture since June.
“Significant improvements have already been made to the interior and exterior of the building, along with a new hire policy having been implemented aiming to meet users’ needs.
“Bookings of the hall have increased and with the improvements planned in the months ahead we hope that this will lead to even more patrons accessing the venue.”
He added: “We will shortly embark upon the second phase of our refurbishment programme and look forward to hosting a series of public engagement events in the new year aiming to bring everyone in the city up to speed with what’s been happening.
“We want everyone to be involved and informed about what is happening with their hall.
“So much has been achieved in the past few months with great energy and ambition to do so much more to truly keep the Brechin City Hall alive as the thriving civic centre of the town.”
The public meeting has been scheduled for March 11 at 2pm.