Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east charity faces struggle to complete £1.3m extension after lockdown losses

Post Thumbnail

A north-east charity has been left counting the cost of lockdown after its £1.3 million extension plans were delayed.

Macbi Community Hub, which offers sporting facilities, a café and children’s play areas, reopened its doors to offer limited activities last week.

The Newlands Road venue, operated by charity Mintlaw and Central Buchan Initiative, had committed to a £1.3m extension just months before its enforced closure as part of the coronavirus lockdown.

Now welcoming back users, the centre is hoping to claw back an estimated £35,000 income lost during the past few months.

Centre manager Connie Strachan said: “It has been a horrible and surreal time.

“We have lost around £35,000 with paying for insurance, bills and giving back refunds for bookings.

“We have committed to the extension too we were only about £80,000 short of having the funds in place for that. Now we’re closer to £120,000 short.

“I am a bit more upbeat about things now that our doors are open, but it has been a scary time for us.

“We are a not-for-profit organisation so have to break even to keep going. We have been quite fortunate that we have been open for six years and have had a surplus every year so we could put money into the extension and keep going during lockdown.”

Building work began on the extension, which will house the town’s library and a youth and community room, in January, and was due to be completed in September.

With the commitment made, contract signed and grant funding needing spent by a certain time, the committee are pushing ahead with the works, but don’t expect the extension to open until January now.

“We are still actively fundraising but that’s hard when you can’t organise fundraising events yet,” Ms Strachan added:  “It would be great is any local businesses or people who could support us in any way financially, would do so.

“We are absolutely delighted that we are open again, even if it’s a limited service at the moment. We are excited to get back to some kind of normal after four months.”

The centre’s 28 staff are now on flexi-furlough and the indoor café, outdoor children’s play area and astro-turf are open to visitors and youth bookings.

Anyone able to donate to the hub should contact conniemacbi@outlook.com or call 0177162453.