A historic building in the heart of Barrhead has been brought back to life through “a labour of love”.
The old Methodist Church Hall on Cross Arthurlie Street has been saved from a state of disrepair and transformed into an early years establishment.
The opening of Auld Kirk nursery this month will mark the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the old sandstone building which first opened in 1903.
An open day is set to be held tomorrow (Thursday, August 1) from 10am to 12pm and then from 1pm to 3pm, both for prospective parents and those keen to see what they have done to the building.
Eric Burns, the managing director of Auld Kirk, told the Barrhead News: “We’ve put a beautiful porch at the front of it.
“The place has been completely rewired and completely renovated to the highest standard."
“We’ve been working on it for three years since just before Covid and then everything stopped and that’s us just caught up now on everything.
“We are just over the moon and can’t wait to get going.
“It’s a beautiful building and we are really pleased with the way it's turned out.”
The church hall closed its doors in May 2016 after falling into such a state of disrepair that the congregation had no choice but to move elsewhere in the face of costly repairs.
According to church organisers at the time, the situation was so bad that mushrooms had started to form inside the church, and squirrels were tearing the roofing apart.
The top to bottom renovation has rectified its extensive problems.
The new private nursery will cater for those aged 0 to two years old in a baby room and those aged two to three in the main room.
The new establishment is the sister nursery of Barrhead’s first and only other private nursery Railway Cottage on Carlibar Road, which celebrated its tenth anniversary last autumn.
Like Auld Kirk, prior to its new lease of life as Railway Cottage, its imposing sandstone building had lain dilapidated and was transformed through an ambitious renovation process.
Before being transformed by former chemical plant worker Eric, it had also been fire gutted for almost a decade as developers were left in limbo and failed to secure planning permission for a block of flats.
Railway Cottage has built up an excellent reputation over the years and Eric hopes his second venture, Auld Kirk, will do the same.
“The building has been brought back to life and hopefully the nursery will thrive,” he added.
“It’s providing another service for the people of Barrhead.”
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