Bosses at Perth Junior Curling Club say they fear for the future of curling in the city with the threat of closure hanging over the Dewars Centre.
Live Active Leisure board members are set to decide the future of the curling centre and Perth Leisure Pool this week, as both face closure due to soaring energy costs.
Perth and Kinross Council protected the leisure group’s funding in its own budget, but it is feared this is not enough to protect the facilities due to the rising cost of living.
Perthshire – particularly the Dewars Centre – is central to curling in Scotland and has produced stars such as Eve Muirhead.
Jill Young, chair of Perth Junior Curling Club, launched a petition this week to save the centre as she says the decision to close the centre could put both her own club and the future of curling in the city at risk.
She said: “I really have concerns for future of curling in Perth.
“I can’t see the Perth juniors having a future if we don’t have an ice rink.
“It wouldn’t be feasible to move to another rink because they won’t have room and the kids wouldn’t be able to move there.
“I wouldn’t think any of the curling clubs at Perth will be able to continue, most week nights and weekends the rink is booked up.”
Alison Milne, chair of Perth Curling Committee and mum of World Junior curling champion, Holly Wilkie-Milne, says closure would be detrimental to the success of many promising curlers in Perth.
She said: “For Perth to lose something as iconic as curling – it’s unthinkable.
“You have to have a base to train.
“Holly was 16 when she got accepted into British Curling but the majority of the curling squad are adults.”
Holly’s success began at Dewars Centre at the age of seven.
Alison said: “Dewar’s was 100% necessary to Holly’s success – but I actually think the point is it’s not just Holly who made it.
“We’ve had about 100 kids through junior this year and we’ve got some fantastic role models for women in sport – curling has a massive amount to offer children.
“It’s a safe environment and something meaningful to do as a kid with an Olympic dream ahead of them.
“It’s devastating to think that the current juniors we coach at the junior level may not have the opportunity to grow to their full potential.”
‘Death knell for legacy of curling in Perthshire’
Perthshire MSP Murdo Fraser said he has spoken to LAL and hopes a new solution can be found to keep both facilities open, ahead of a budget
He said: “Scottish Curling raised their concerns with us earlier this week.
“They rightly feel closing the Dewars Centre would be the death knell for a legacy of curling in Perthshire dating back decades.
“We need to hope both venues can be kept open and we will be doing everything in our power to ensure this happens.”
Perth and Kinross Council previously said they rejected proposals to reduce LAL’s funding and allocated an extra £110,000 to continue key services but highlighted that the board still has internal spending pressures which must be considered.
LAL’s board of directors will make a decision around both facilities futures on Thursday while they say energy cost increases over the last 18 months have had a large financial impact, leading to the company having to consider “difficult choices”.
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