The fight to save New Cumnock Working Men’s Club is continuing, as volunteers described the ongoing challenges they face with historic debt and the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis as ‘completely disheartening’.
In July, the Chronicle reported on the fight to save what is one of the last remaining working men’s clubs in Scotland as it struggled to emerge from financial ruin and conditions which caused the club to fall into near disrepute.
Despite a new committee being set up to rectify past errors and its constitution being modernised, the club say they have yet to receive funding and that their plight is being ignored.
Committee member Heather Montgomery said: “Money wise, we’re still in the same boat. We just feel neglected. Everything stops at Cumnock and we’re always out the loop in terms of being notified about funding.
“There’s the hub at Ochiltree and Netherthird Community Centre but we’ve fallen into a black hole because we’re not a charity and can’t get registered at the moment. We’re in limbo.
“We raised £1,000 from raffles so that cut the bills down and got a few jobs done. But the roof is still in letting water in and it’s too big a job for locals. Some companies have even walked away without giving us a quote because it’s too much.”
As well as continuing to operate a foodbank, the club has recently passed its COVID-19 compliance test meaning customers can enjoy a fresh pint once more.
The club is still to this day frequented by ex-miners. And some have now started making a different kind of sacrifice to see the club continue on.
Heather said: “The pub is up and running but with this climate not many people want to use it, and we can’t afford to burn the electrical heating a lot of the time.
“The old ones are coming in with big coats and jumpers
on saying, don’t put the
heating on. Because they know we can’t afford it.
“It’s terrible that those before us have let it go this far with this debt around our neck. The old ones are loving it but there’s not enough of them to keep it going.
“We’re wracking our brains as to how we can generate cash to keep it going, like holding conferences or work training, or for it to be used as a classroom. We just don’t know what to do.”
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