Edzell is mounting an eleventh-hour bid to keep historic Inglis Hall open for community use.
The stunning hall is on the brink of a 125th anniversary celebration.
But it comes at a time when the threat of closure hangs over the A-listed building which was gifted to the village.
It also houses a rare Victorian library with one of the country’s last working examples of an early lending system.
Inglis Hall is one of four buildings being handed back to Angus Council by its arms-length Angus Alive leisure trust.
Kirriemuir Gateway to the Glens museum, Brechin Town House museum and Arbroath Community Centre are also due to fall back under council control from the end of October.
The move is aimed at keeping the leisure trust afloat after the pandemic ravaged the balance books.
But council chiefs say they will have to rely on community groups keeping the facilities open.
Community event this month
Edzell Village Improvement Society (EVIS) has organised an open event on Saturday September 30 to try and build interest in the effort to keep Inglis Hall running.
And the local Toddlers’ group say it would be a disaster if it was to shut.
Both have been critical of the lack of communication from the council over the plans.
EVIS chairwoman Alison Farrell said: “We’ve a really good committee, but many are involved in lots of things in the village and this would be a big undertaking.
“It’s a beautiful building and it would be so sad if it was to shut.
“They are treating this like any other building, but Inglis Hall was gifted to the village for the people of the village.
“What we’re trying to do is get a sub-group set up under EVIS to take on the running of the hall.
“We really need this hall.
“When Arwen and the other storms struck, Edzell was virtually cut off for days.
“It could be a place where people would know they could come for warm water, food and so on.
“There is so much more it could be used for, but because of the way they charge for it groups have just stopped using it.
“There is also a wedding taking place in it this month but I don’t think many people know it can be hired for that sort of thing.”
Lack of options
Toddlers group chairwoman Claire Thomson said: “There’s nowhere else we could get to store all the equipment we have and meet weekly.
“Toddlers is a place where new mums and dads in the village can meet each other and it’s made such a difference to people.
“But it’s difficult to book the hall, and it’s expensive to book.”
In August, councillors agreed bookings for all four facilities will be taken until a final solution is found.
Feasibility studies for the venues are to be drawn up.
Since Inglis Hall and Brechin Town House each belong to their communities, any plan to ultimately offload them would have to be approved in court.
Fascinating history
Lieutenant Colonel Robert William Inglis gifted the hall and its library to Edzell.
He was chairman of the London Stock Exchange and commissioned it aas a memorial to his parents.
The clock tower bears the date 1897, but the building’s grand opening was staged on July 22 1898.
Internally, the principal rooms were a library, reading room, the parish council offices, a small assembly hall and a large assembly hall.
Inglis also donated a collection of 5,000 specially bound books to fill the library.
It remains intact, and with a rare surviving Cotgreave Indicator.
The system was once a dominant feature of lending libraries.
The indicator is a board with metal strips, painted blue on one side and red on the other, to represent each book and whether it was on loan.
If it was blue it was available, if it was red it was out on loan.
Edzell loan records for the first half of the 20th century have also survived.
