Fight begins to stop loss of vital services

A Galashiels community leader has vowed to fight all the way a move to close a vital town resource centre without any plans to provide an equivalent replacement.
Judith Cleghorn at the Focus Centre in Galashiels. (PIC: BILL McBURNIE)Judith Cleghorn at the Focus Centre in Galashiels. (PIC: BILL McBURNIE)
Judith Cleghorn at the Focus Centre in Galashiels. (PIC: BILL McBURNIE)

As part of a proposal to build a new £55m Galashiels Academy at Scott Park the Focus Centre in Livingston Place, which has served the community for almost half a century, is earmarked for closure.

The suggestion is that the groups that meet there would be accommodated within the new school complex.

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But after attending a recent presentation on the plans, Judith Cleghorn, chair at the centre for more than two decades, expressed her view that the new provision would prove to be inadequate.

Speaking last night at a meeting of Galashiels Community Council, of which she is also chair, she said: “We have been advised that the Focus Centre will be incorporated within the new school, so my issue is with the community.

“During the presentation I didn’t see any particular space devoted solely to the community and I got the impression that we would have to fit in basically where we could, as and when rooms are available.

“The Focus Centre has been where it is since 1971 and I have been chair for over 25 years and we have built up a rapport and a trust with the community and our classes and groups are many and varied, we charge modest prices and in return we get commitment from volunteers and friends and offer a service like no other to many people.

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“I appreciate a community section in a modern school is the modern way but it doesn’t mean it is the right way. All the bookings would go through Live Borders and it would mean we no longer had any opportunity to donate to worthy causes within the town, such as schools, community groups, Christmas lights and Gala in Bloom.

“I think that losing the Focus Centre and not giving us an equivalent facility within the new school is totally wrong and it’s definitely not what should happen and I will fight it all the way.”

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