Save our Village Hall
For only £3 per year for each Kirknewton household we can save our Village Hall!
West Lothian Council is stopping funding to community centres. To avoid our Village Hall moving to WLC control or being closed, KCDT will start leasing the hall from 1 April 2026 bearing the yearly cost of about £6000. We can only cover about half of that with hall hires - so we need to fundraise another £3000 in a year to keep our hall open!
9 Ways you can help:
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Become a member of KCDT to keep updated on the campaign and have your say. It's free to become a member!
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Join the weekly community draw either online for £26 per 6 months (per ticket, and also includes KCDT membership), or buy your ticket in the shop for £1 a ticket per week.
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Hire the Village Hall for your parties and events for only £25 an hour.
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Show your support by joining activities in the Village Hall. There's yoga, kettlebell circuits, pilates, rainbows, brownies, Kirknewton Cafe, bingo, playgroup ....and more!
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Make a one-off donation below.
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Help us brainstorm about how we can reduce running costs and/or increase income for a sustainble future for the Village Hall. If you have a good idea to improve the hall and its usage whilst building community, you can apply for community funding here.
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Tell your neighbours and friends about our campaign.
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If you're a business interested in sponsorship contact us.
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Become a board member of the new Charity set up to manage the hall.
For more information see the FAQs or contact Steph (steph@kirknewton.info) or Ian at the shop.
One time donation for our Village Hall
For only £3 per year per Kirknewton household we can save our Village Hall. The Village Hall costs about £6,000 per year to run, and about half of that can be covered with hires - so we need to raise another £3,000 this year. We cannot update this bar with various sources of donations, so please view the updates below to see how far along we are! Thank you for your support!
£674.04 raised
21 donations
208 days left!
22%
Amount
Can save our Village Hall.
£3
Covers 1.5 days of running costs.
£25
Covers 3 days of running costs.
£50
Covers a week of running costs.
£120
Other
0/100
Comment (optional)
FAQs
Why is the Village Hall at risk?
West Lothian Council (WLC) is stopping the funding for community centres across West Lothian. The options are for community committees to remain in control of centres but bear all operating costs, or the control of the community centres moves back to the Council.
What option is Kirknewton exploring?
Over the last 2 years, negotiations have been ongoing between WLC and the village (Kirknewton Community Council, Kirknewton Community Development Trust, and the Village Hall Committee). Through discussions with the community, including an open meeting for residents in the Village Hall in 2025, there was a preference to keep our own control of the Village Hall and explore ways to bear the costs.
What will the new management system look like?
From the 1st April 2026 (the deadline set by WLC) the KCDT will lease the Village Hall from WLC on a monthly basis for a temporary period of time. This transition period will allow KCDT to set up a brand new charity for the Village Hall that will then allow us to apply for water/rates relief and also apply for funding specific for property. For legal reasons, the charity-structure of KCDT is not suitable to deal with property and accompanying liability. The new Community Hall charity will become independent from KCDT and have its own board etc. More information on the new Community Hall charity here.
What are we doing to save our Village Hall?
Besides negotiating with WLC and setting up a new management system, we're doing lots to help save our Village Hall. We are setting up this fundraiser to cover the cost for this financial year, including by giving the community draw a boost (updates on the fundraising campaign below). The community draw also aids the pot of community funding, which this year will focus on supporting groups and activities that improve the hall and its usage (apply here). Furthermore, we are increasing our efforts to effectively communicate with the community about our ongoing efforts (e.g. by improving and updating this website). We are restarting monthly newsletters for KCDT members (sign up here) about the campaign and general news from the village. Through increased communication we hope to also increase the visibility of the Village Hall in our community. If you have other ideas about how to better use and save our Village Hall, don't hesitate to get in touch. For example, would you want to see an online booking system?
Why can't the Trust simply pay for the Village Hall?
The KCDT indeed manages money to invest in the community. Unfortunately, the current pots of money are ringfenced for certain purposes (e.g. due to rules by the funder) in such a way that it is not possible to directly pay the Village Hall operating costs. The money raised in the current campaign all goes directly towards maintaining the Village Hall. Once the new Village Hall charity is in place, with a different legal structure from KCDT, it will be possible to apply for funds to cover operating costs of the hall. For more information about the Trust's finances, please visit the Trust's page.
Campaign updates
Campaign updates
3 April 2026: Campaign launched
8 April 2026: Wow - within one week we already managed to raise over a third required to keep our Village Hall running this year! Thank you so much for everyone who engaged so early on already.
27 April 2026: Within a month, more than £1000 was raised through donations, and over 200 people have signed up for the community draw! We are crunching exact numbers now, but it looks like for this financial year the anticipated operating costs for the Village Hall can be fully covered. Thanks to you! We are continuing the fundraising efforts to make sure we have a solid pot of funding at the start of taking over the VH responsibilities from West Lothian Council.
2 June 2026: We are now likely on target to cover usage of the Village Hall for this year! Thank you to the 275 people that have signed up for the community draw and all that have directly donated a total of over £1500. The community draw can now guarantee £100 each week in the prize pot. We are aiming for 300 people in the draw: you can still sign up.
2 August 2026: Kirknewton now has a new charity called Kirknewton Community Hall (KCH; charity nr SC055413). The purpose of this charity is to run and maintain the Village Hall, and allows access to funding that KCDT would not be eligible to apply for. Kirknewton Community Hall has its own Board of Trustees: Stephanie Paterson; Graeme Hughes; Ian Watt; John Sives; Sandra McPherson; Simon Flower; Gill Greaves. For now, the KCH will remain a part of KCDT - as it's currently a committee of the board - until all admin such as bank accounts and insurances have been fully sorted. This is anticipated to last until around the end of 2026.
The support from the community so far to save our Village Hall campaign has been incredible! We have nearly 300 people signed up for the community draw and people continue to be generous with direct donations. Special thank you to the Kirknewton Inn and everyone involved in organising the recent Darts Competition, raising a whopping £1200.20 for the Village Hall! We can now comfortably run the hall for a minimum of 1 year with continued support from community draw players. Next step is thinking about longer term solutions to run the hall so that we’re not reliant on donations.
22 August 2026: We have provided the community with an in-person update on the Village Hall on Saturday 22 August from 9 - 9:30 am in the Village Hall. Thank you for attending! The powerpoint that was presented can be viewed if interested.
Further updates to come.
Want to be kept in the loop? Sign up to become a KCDT member (it's free) and receive the monthly newsletter.
