A north-east charity is looking to bring the former Sea Cadets hall in Stonehaven back to life as a “home away from home” for local youngsters.
Kincardine and Mearns Youth Clubs (KMYC) wants to take over the running of the hall from Aberdeenshire Council.
The charity has applied to lease the High Street building for 30 years.
Three youth clubs were initially set up in the area – one in Stonehaven, the second in Laurencekirk and the third in Portlethen.
KMYC was established as an umbrella charity to provide support for them all.
The former Sea Cadet building would primarily serve the Stonehaven youth club.
But it could serve as a centre for all of the clubs to come together.
‘Grand ambition’ for former Sea Cadet building
Chairwoman Dawn Black said the search for a new permanent home began as ambitions for the charity were “far, far bigger than just running once a week”.
Currently each youth club operates two-hour drop-in sessions only one night of the week.
Youngsters can meet up with their friends to play pool, table tennis, table football, chess and other board games, while some may enjoy crafts.
Sometimes the clubs have organised activities that the young people themselves are involved with planning.
“The bigger ambition is to provide more of a centre so that the young people have a space of their own that they can personalise,” Dawn explained.
The plan could see youngsters get the chance to learn essential life skills including cooking.
While an evening could be set aside for those with additional needs such as Autism spectrum disorder who may struggle to attend the usual boisterous club.
Dawn added: “We really want to be able to have that space so that we can do different sessions for different age groups, activities and interests.
“That’s the grand ambition.”
Could other groups use the hall?
Internal office space in the building could be used as a base for the charity and could help expand its support to other locations in the area.
Dawn explained: “It would provide that focus for the charity long-term, we don’t want to stop at just three clubs.
“If someone came to us and said they wanted to start something up but were not sure where to start, we can take them under our wing.”
The facility would be available for use by other community groups and could host birthday parties too.
There are even hopes to open up the building as a Stonehaven resilience centre.
“Should we have storms, rather than scrambling around people already know that there is a centre they can go to to warm up or charge their phones,” Dawn said.
Why does the youth club need a new home?
Stonehaven Youth Club currently operates from the town’s community centre on Friday evenings.
Towards the end of the school term, the club regularly welcomed between 40 to 50 youngsters.
But the restricted space has posed multiple problems.
Its rooms aren’t big enough and there is no storage for the youth club to keep games and other items.
This means volunteers have to carry them back and forth every week.
The lack of space means there is a limit on how many young people the club can cater for and the activities it can offer.
And they have to fight with other community groups to use the rooms in the first place.
Why did the Sea Cadets move out?
The old Sea Cadet hall has been sitting empty ever since the group moved to their new £625,000 base on the town’s Marischal Street.
The Stonehaven Sea Cadets decided to find a new home after outgrowing the premises which they had owned since 1959.
However, Dawn admitted she had her eye on the building ever since it closed its doors.
She said: “I thought ‘wouldn’t it be an amazing space to utilise?’ and also in the process of doing that, save a lovely building in Stonehaven from potentially being turned into flats.”
The former hall later appeared on the council’s disposal list so the charity quickly submitted a community asset request before it went on the open market.
What will happen next?
If the charity’s bid is approved, the building won’t open straight away.
It is in need of renovation due to damp and water ingress.
Volunteers say they also need to find a solution to make the building more accessible.
The asset transfer has been validated by Aberdeenshire Council and is now open for public consultation until July 31.