Dunblane Cathedral is set to offer ‘warm spaces’ this winter in its church halls to help families struggling to pay soaring bills.
The Kirk Session has submitted a planning application to Stirling Council for the B-listed halls opposite the cathedral which include the remodelling of the external front entrance steps to aid access.
It also said this week that the halls will be available to the community as a ‘warm space’ from next week to help with rising food and heating costs.
The plans for the hall comprise ‘internal remodelling to facilitate a commercial kitchen with new opening in wall to provide a servery and existing office to be become a store.’
The stage in the main hall would also be removed ‘to provide a more adaptable’ and ‘multiuse space to facilitate a cafe/seating and other events’.
Dunblane Cathedral minister, the Rev Colin Renwick said this week: “The upgrade to the church halls has been under consideration for some time and was delayed by Covid.
“However, we have become increasingly aware, like churches everywhere, of the high heating costs people are facing as well as the cost of food.
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“I don’t think any community is unaffected by that.
“We also hope other congregations will be involved as well. We can complement one another rather than compete with one another.”
Mr Renwick added that the Cathedral currently has a working group involved in the scheme - and it is hoped that the halls’ Cockburn Lounge, currently open in the mornings, will also open in the afternoon.
Dunblane Cathedral Session Clerk Ronald Wright said the kitchen was in need of modernisation to support work in the community.
He said: “We expect to continue to operate a cafe from the halls.
“We have had a long-running part time cafe in our existing, Cockburn Lounge area for many years now and as such, this is a continuation, and extension, of our existing offering to the community.
“We hire the halls out to a wide range of community users.
“We also make some rooms available free of charge for key community initiatives such as helping with the work of Forth Valley Welcome, supporting local Ukrainians in recent months – and an initiative to invite in the community to ‘warm spaces’, in the face of rising heating and food costs, is due to start next week.
“The current kitchen is in great need of modernisation and upgrading, in order to meet the ever evolving needs of the 21st century church and community life.”
Dunblane Cathedral halls were built by distinguished Scottish architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson in 1903 who had also been responsible for the restoration of the A-listed Cathedral between 1889 and 1893.
