Villagers have been urged to pull together to help rebuild a fire-ravaged social club in time for a birthday party at the end of next week.
It is hoped locals will roll up their sleeves to get the severely damaged Valleyfield Community Sports and Recreation Social Club up and running by Friday April 6.
Firefighters battled for five hours to put out the blaze at the popular venue in High Valleyfield on Thursday evening. As investigations continue into the fire’s cause, club secretary Carolyn Martin revealed a meeting has been organised for Saturday as a first step towards repairing the building.
”The club’s in an awful mess with all the water and smoke damage,” she said. ”We don’t have the funds or the insurance to pay for everything so we’re having a meeting on Saturday to try to get volunteers to come in and do bits and pieces.
”We think there must be £20,000 worth of damage at least. If you’re standing at the dancing end you can look through and see the sky.”
Carolyn said a number of social events had been booked, including birthdays, anniversaries and weddings, and staff did not want to let anyone down.
”If we can even get it sorted in the next couple of weeks we can have the birthday party,” she added.
She was positive there will be no shortage of volunteers but said supplies, equipment and furniture are also needed.
”We need help with decorating, carpets, etc, and we need stuff so we can make a start,” Carolyn said.
The club hopes businesses or individuals will donate paint, wallpaper, tables, chairs, carpets and anything else that can be used.
The first step is to fix the electrics today and it is hoped members will be able to gain access by Thursday to get a better idea of what is needed.
”The club wasn’t in the best financial situation in the first place so this is terrible for us,” Carolyn added. ”It’s the only place the village has and we have the birthday party next week, a golden wedding booked for June and a wedding on June 16. We don’t want to let anyone down so hopefully everyone will do their bit to get the place running again.”
Although the exact cause of the fire is not yet known, police have ruled it was accidental and it is thought it may have been sparked by repair works to the roof. Thankfully, nobody was in the building at the time of the fire and no one was injured.
Saturday’s meeting will be in the Valleyfield Sports and Recreation Club, next door to the community centre, at noon. Further information is available by calling Carolyn Martin on 01383 889296 or emailing her at martin869@aol.com
Photo David Wardle