The Millennium Hall Car Park Appeal – Please Help

Three pieces of good news:

The original all-up rough estimate of the cost of the extension to the car park, after adjustment and economies, has dropped by some £30,000, so the target for our appeal has come down by that sum.

The appeal has now raised the sum of £27,748, including the £5,000 pledged by the Fraser Foundation. Since the last update we have received more individual donations, plus £785 from the B Flats concert, £800 from the collection at the recent funeral service for Willie Mitchell, and £1,000 from the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park.

A local resident has pledged a second £10,000 donation under Gift Aid, which with tax reclaim is worth a total of £12,500.

The above welcome developments mean that we are within striking distance of raising the necessary funds to achieve the project. An existing major donor, in order to get the project under way in summer weather, has undertaken to pay, if necessary, for any shortfall. This has allowed us to go ahead and place the contract, and the contractor intends to start work on the site on Monday 6 June. The work is likely to continue for four weeks or thereby. We hope that the residents of Church Road and Duncryne Terrace will tolerate the inconvenience of contractor traffic and noise over the period, for the eventual benefit that this project will produce.

There is, however, still a shortfall, so the appeal goes on. Only a quite small number of the local population have actually made a contribution to this appeal, and it seems inappropriate that the one who has already donated a very large proportion of the cost should be left to pick up the shortfall bill for a project which effectively belongs to the whole community. We still require some £5,000 to £6,000, and we ask all those who have thought of donating, but not actually done so, to do so now, and, indeed, we ask those who have not thought of donating to start thinking now, and do something about it!

How to contribute
If you are a UK taxpayer, please donate by Gift Aid, thus giving us an extra 25p for every £1 you donate, at no extra cost to yourself. You can obtain the Gift Aid form by downloading it , or by telephoning James Macrae on 01389 830430, and asking for one to be passed to you.

Cheques should be made payable to “Kilmaronock Millennium Association” and sent to the Treasurer, James N Macrae, Burnside Cottage, Gartocharn, Alexandria G83 8SD.

The history
During the building of the Hall in 1999, the amount being funded by the Lottery was suddenly reduced, and economies had to be made, the main one being to reduce the car park to half its planned size, a total of only 39 parking spaces, and less when drivers fail to park neatly!

Inadequacy of the existing car park
The Friday Community Coffee and Crafts mornings take place about 50 times a year, and the present space is well below what is required on each of these Fridays. This weekly event is the mainstay of the Hall’s income. Besides Friday mornings, the car park proves to be too small at practically every other well-attended event in the year. Parking spreads into the church entrance, the small car park below the church, and onto Church Road itself, which is already a narrow road, whose residents naturally want to park down the one possible side. The inadequacy of the existing space has been apparent since the start, and becomes, if anything, more obvious every year. Kilmaronock Millennium Association is determined to achieve the necessary extension, and at the same time, to get rid of the eyesore which the undeveloped half has become.

Progress to date
A grant of £10,000 was obtained from Awards for All (the Lottery’s small grants section) to help with the preliminaries. These, including topographical survey, environmental investigation, site investigation and application for planning permission have gone ahead, and planning permission has recently been granted, subject to some landscaping conditions. The contract for the physical works is going out to tender.

The likely cost, and how to fund it
Including preliminaries and professional fees and VAT, this is estimated at £125,000 plus, of which only £6,400 has been paid out so far. Funds available are some £40,000, so a further say £80,000 is required. Approaches are being made to the Lottery for some contribution, but a grant is unlikely. Application will also be made to the several charitable trusts and other organisations which helped with the main build over 10 years ago. It is hoped that this will yield some success, but sadly car parks do not have the same donor appeal as, for instance, lifeboats or small furry animals. The need for this extension is seen as a real priority by KMA, and the many local users of the Hall would agree. A local appeal is therefore being made to see what we can raise from the goodwill of the community at large. The possible providers of grant will also look more kindly on our applications if we are not only providing a material sum from our own funds, but also taking steps by local appeal to raise more. We therefore ask you to donate what you can, large or small, to the extension cost, if possible under the Gift Aid scheme, which allows the charity to claim an extra 28p for every £1 donated.

In case anyone should think that we are not practicing what we preach, I confirm that I, and others, have already got the appeal off to a good start with Gift Aid donations. We are already closing the gap - please help!

James N Macrae
Treasurer – Kilmaronock Millennium Association