A Palnackie-based charity is facing a hefty property bill after last weekend’s storms damaged the village hall.
Violent wind gusts moved solar panels on the roof and cracked a tile allowing water to cascade into the building.
Owners Buittle Quest – which only took over the hall in 2020 – had to close the popular venue on safety grounds.
It’s not the first time water has poured in after a tile failed – prompting fears that the entire roof will have to be replaced.
Trustee Lorraine Light hopes the popular venue will reopen soon but acknowledged a longer term fix may be needed.
She told the News: “The solar panels on the roof shifted in the wind and have broken a tile.
“There’s a big damp patch on the ceiling which looks as if it could come down at any moment.
“There was water dripping through the electrics and we decided to shut the hall.
“We have somebody coming this week to take it down to make it safe.
“This has been an ongoing thing for a wee while.
“The roof had to be repaired a couple of years ago and it was the same problem – a broken tile letting water in.
“We had to take the solar panels off and put them back on.”
The ceramic-type tiles are believed to be the originals fitted when the hall was built in the 1970s.
Additional weight and stresses associated with recently fitted solar panels are thought to have caused the tile failure.
Lorraine said: “At the moment the hall remains closed as we are going to have to do a bit of re-roofing.
“The solar panels need to be taken off and refitted which will hold us back more than anything.
“But we are reliant on builders and roofers being available.
“The tiles are quite old and are not really robust enough to take the weight of the panels.
“They seem to crack at the slightest wee thing.
“Potentially we are looking a new roof – but we can deal with that next year.”
“Hopefully we will have the hall back open within the next two weeks for everybody to use again.”
