Sat 20th September 2008

West Kilbride Community Initiative highlighted in Herald article: 'Changing fortunes of a village'

By Martin Harvey in The Herald Saturday September 20 2008.

The Barony Church in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, is to be converted and given a new lease of life. The building, which has lain empty and unused as a place of worship for 30 years, is to become an exhibition centre in the latest of a series of projects which have benefited the area.

The West Kilbride Community Initiative Ltd, a charity established in 1998, has helped to take a village in decline and turn it around, creating Craft Town Scotland.

By encouraging skilled craftspeople to take over derelict shops they were able to regenerate the town to the extent that in 2006 the Craft Town Project won the Enterprising Britain competition. It is hoped that the latest project will help attract the mass of visitors needed to ensure that the venture is sustainable, successful and saves a recognisable part of the local skyline.

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Angus Kerr, a retired architect, who has been closely involved in the planned Barony Arts Centre project said: We hope to see more visitors which will help our local rural economy and to encourage more crafts people. It will provide space for a series of artists in residence who will carry out teaching and demonstrations - education is very much part of the project - and we'll save a very important listed church building."

An application for Big Lottery funding to help the conversion is being prepared with the aim of completing the project in two years.

Website Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/other/display.var.2449841.0.Changing_fortunes_of_a_village.php

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