First, the bad news. B2 and B3 (the concrete buildings that begin at the left of the picture above have been condemned and will be demolished soon. We will have to, and have offered to, vacate by 30th September).
However, we have been in high level discussion with the council who have granted a stay of execution for B1 – the wooden building that fills most of the picture.
This is potentially great news but it comes with caveats. We have to make structural improvements, but that is well within our ken.
Steve Phair is a powerhouse of energy and is leading the fight on this front and Tom Stewart is leading the collaboration between FCT and City of Edinburgh.
It is possible that if we make a compelling case for how we can improve B1 we could enjoy quite a considerable extension of our lease.
That’s where you all come in.
We need a task force of volunteers to clear what remains of B2 and B3 and we’re looking at Sunday 24th September to further clear B1 to make space for the things we want to keep from B2. We will hire a huge skip to do this and we’re looking for helpers to fill it from 11am that day. Please reply below if you are willing to give up some time.
Another really critical issue is that The Rugby Club is no longer available to us to rehearse, so we need to find new, affordable, rehearsal space within the vicinity. We need you all to reach out to your networks to find affordable church halls, meeting rooms, Scout Halls, community spaces or whatever that we could hire from January to July next year.
Again, please leave your suggestions in the reply box, with contact details for hall curators etc if you have them. We will evaluate each on merit.
In tandem, we are pursuing opportunities to partner with Trinity High and Victoria Primary (which is about to move) to be a community partner.
There has been a lot of discussion and negotiation going on behind the scenes. A lot of people have offered a lot of great ideas, but we need to prioritise these in our strategy.
Thank you one and all for your contributions so far. But, please, we need to take this step by step and we need all hands on deck.