The Bellfield Story, Action Porty, Land Reform and Community Buyouts in Scotland

This is Alastair Cameron's fascinating personal perspective on the story of saving Bellfield , as given at an EICSP event on community buyouts on 12th October 2019. His account includes the following fascinating snippets:

"Looking back, it now feels that things happened at breakneck speed . . .

"There was still a lot of naivety around. We thought three months would be fine to get things ready, and we would open after the new year . . .

"Does [what has happened at Bellfield since we opened] meet the community vision from that early meeting? Within the limitations of real life, I believe it does. There are a lot of ideas that haven’t been realised, and some will not. The buildings are a fantastic resource, with the wonderful worship space dating back to 1809 alongside very practical 1960s halls. But they have their limitations. Some of these can be tackled as soon as we have the funds – it’s vital that we improve the toilet facilities, for example. Others will take longer – we want the building to be the most accessible of its kind, but there is a one-metre height difference between the floor of the church space and that of the halls, which is not going to be easy to bridge."

Read his full account here: Alastair Cameron - Bellfield Story, Action Porty, Land Reform and Community Buyouts in Scotland