Mearns Kirk

I don’t think anyone will dispute the refurbishment of the church hall has been a
considerable success having been completed over five years ago, providing high quality accommodation to a wide range of church and community groups supporting a huge range of activities in the local community.

Church treasurer, Robert Paton, who chaired the Hall project group, ably supported by John Henderson, Marje Gillies and Rev Joe Kavanagh said “it was a considerable challenge at the time as the works were costed at £700k or £1m in today’s money, so keeping to the budget was essential. We were very fortunate to have received a legacy from the late church member, Mr Martin Sullivan, to help pay for the works, but keeping to the budget was essential as we had to keep emphasising to our architects and contractors”

The Hall was originally constructed in the 1970’s but they needed complete refurbishment including rewiring, new kitchen facilities, insulation, double glazed windows, new heating, new lighting system…….etc., etc. One of the biggest costs was installing dividers in the church hall to give us more flexibility in dividing the space for various uses.

To help with the process we secured over £34k (largest grant award) from the East Renfrewshire Energy Renewal Fund, which paid for the new furniture, sound systems and IT equipment which are all well used.

Our aim at the time was to provide high quality facilities and space to local groups aimed at reducing loneliness and social isolation in our local community irrespective of religious beliefs.

Robert said, “We currently provide space to local groups such as; Meditation Groups; various Keep Fit Groups; Mearns Kirk Helping Hands; Guides; the Guild; etc. Not only do we receive high praise from hall users, each year we generate over £28k in hall rental income which contributes towards our church running costs”.