No doors will be locked for good today on cherished town halls and community centres across Moray.
Fears had been raised that seven buildings could be shut tonight (SAT) unless viable groups could be found to continue running them.
Moray Council opted to close the buildings at the end of June as part of its budget-setting process in order to save £248,000 over the next two years.
Yesterday, the authority confirmed short-term leases had been agreed for four of the buildings to allow a long-term transfer of ownership to be considered.
However, the other three sites will continue to be run by the council for an extra month in order for the situation to be reviewed.
Campaigners in Keith faced the hardest task to keep the doors open after an error omitted the town’s Longmore Hall from the initial proposals.
But yesterday a group signed a temporary lease for the building to allow them to continue taking bookings.
Rhona Paterson, chairwoman of Longmore Community Hall, stressed the teamwork from all involved was critical for meeting the deadline.
She said: “The important thing now is that it’s business as usual, we can keep taking bookings, and the fur and feather show can still go ahead next week – which people come from across the country for.
“It’s only the start though while we go for a transfer. We need people to support us, about 12 groups have said they’ll keep using the hall, which is good, but anybody with any skills would also be a big help.”
Groups leasing the halls on a short-term basis are getting financial assistance with the running costs of the buildings for the first six months.
Extra staff have also been hired by the council to help cope with the extra demand placed on its community support unit.
Despite not making the deadline, Mike Devenney, chairman of the Elgin Town Hall for the Community working group explained “a remarkable job” had been done by volunteers – describing the extra month of council management as a “vote of confidence”.
He said: “Although considerable progress had been made in the last two weeks, we basically ran out of time to get everything in place.
“The council agreeing the keep the hall open should provide reassurance to those who have bookings. No one, seriously, wants the hall to close.”