Purchase of band hall will give St David’s Brass a fresh start

After a huge fundraising effort, St David’s Brass is now able to purchase its own band hall and transform it into an asset which the whole community can enjoy. It’s a remarkable recovery for a band whose premises suffered at the hand of wanton vandals just a year ago.

The purchase of Vogrie Hall in Gorebridge, Midlothian, by St David’s Brass will give the band its first permanent home since its formation some 40 years ago.

Vogrie Hall was first built in the 1930s for local miners and later became a hall for community use. For the last 11 years the band has leased the premises from the local council. but, during this time, the condition of the building has deteriorated considerably and it became clear that the council would be unable to carry out the much-needed repairs.

St David’s Brass realised that the only way to save its rehearsal space was to purchase the hall from the council at a cost of £100,000, enabling it to seek funding and undertake a total refurbishment programme.

Early on, the band was fortunate to receive two anonymous donations totalling £300,000 and now St David’s Brass would like to thank two of its members, Alistair Taylor and Fiona Dickson, for their tireless efforts in securing the additional funding required to effect the necessary transformation.

The duo acquired a further £238,000 from various grant giving bodies including the Community Ownership Fund (UK Government Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), Fife Environmental Trust, the Foyle Foundation, People’s Postcode Trust, the National Lottery, Clackmannan and Stirling Environmental Trust, Foundation Scotland and the Hugh Fraser Foundation.  

Thanks to the generosity of these funders the band’s plans can now go ahead and a priority will be to fix the roof!

Stuart Dickson, chairman of St David’s Brass said: “We can’t wait to see the finished facility which will be used not only by the band for rehearsals, tuition, master classes and concerts but also by other community groups who wish to hire the main hall for their activities. 

“The last two years have been particularly difficult for the band. Vogrie Hall was closed by the council because it was deemed unsafe, and we had to find alternative accommodation which of course, was very disruptive and expensive.

“We are entering a new and exciting phase and can look forward to more settled times when we can start to build on our links with the community, especially forging ahead with our youth programme for local children.

“I’m very proud to say that St David’s Brass has been able to save a much-loved building in the village and that we will provide an asset for the community in the years to come.”

St David’s Brass would be very pleased to welcome brass players or percussionists (any age or stage) and can provide instruments and tuition. Please email secretary@stdavidsbrass.co.uk or phone 07752 270298 for further details.