Broughty Ferry bowling pavilion set for new lease of life
Pavilion's New Lease on Life
Broughty United Youth FC has secured a 25-year lease on a neglected bowling pavilion in Orchar Park, Broughty Ferry, Scotland. This follows the Dundee City Council's closure of the facility in 2020 due to cost-cutting measures and subsequent vandalism.
Club's History and Plans
The club, founded in 1973, played its first games at Orchar Park, making this a homecoming of sorts. A multi-phased refurbishment is planned, beginning with exterior painting in club colors, basement racking for equipment, development of the old bowling green for training, and exterior toilet refurbishment.
Community Involvement
The project is a community effort, with the club encouraging local residents to participate in the renovation. With 350 children and 60 coaches involved in the club, there's a large pool of potential volunteers.
A Broughty Ferry bowling pavilion which has fallen into a state of disrepair is set for a new lease of life thanks to a local amateur football club.
Broughty United Youth have recently signed a 25-year lease on the old bowling green and pavilion at Orchar Park.
It comes five years after Dundee City Council closed its last remaining bowling clubs â including Orchar Park â as part of a ÂŁ60,000 cost cutting exercise.
The Broughty Ferry pavilion has since become a target for vandalism, leading to local councillor Craig Duncan calling for the facility to be repurposed.
Football club dates back to 1970s
Broughty Unitedâs acquisition of the Orchar pavilion is a full circle moment for the club, who started out playing at the park over half a century ago.
Club secretary Iain Birnie said: âBroughty United was founded by a couple of schoolboys back in 1973 and we played our first games at Orchar.
âSo we have history going back 50 years at the building.
âIt was around three years ago when the council invited tenders to take on the pavilion but we lost out to a commercial organisation.
âHowever, that never happened and last August, the council came back to us to see if we were still interested and we were.â
Phased refurbishment planned
The club are planning a multi-phased refurbishment programme and hope the first stage of the work could be complete by the end of the year.
Iain said: âPhase one consists of a few things. Firstly, we are applying for funding to paint the exterior of the building in our club colours. Itâs looking pretty shabby.
âWe are going to install racking in the basement so each team gets its own place on the rack.
âSecondly, we want to develop the old bowling green so we can use it for âFun Foursâ and âSuper Fivesâ training and games.
âThirdly, we want to refurbish the exterior toilets, these have been out of commission for quite a while.â
A community effort
The refurbishment of the pavilion is very much a team effort and Iain is open to as many of the local community helping out as possible.
âWe have 350 kids and 60 coaches so there are a lot of people that can help with this, which is greatâ, he added.
âBut we are sending a message out to Broughty Ferry, we are here and if you want to do good things, come and help us.â
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