A booming part of the Southside may be left with no public meeting place for its growing community if Gorbals’ St Francis Centre is turned back into a church.
The Archdiocese of Glasgow approached Glasgow City Council to discuss the possibility. Local Councillor James Mutter arranged a meeting with the Archdiocese and the City’s Development and Regeneration Services in May which he attended.

Since then, no formal representations have been made by the Archdiocese to the Council. Despite repeated requests from the LOCAL NEWS over more than three months, the Archdiocese has refused to discuss the St Francis Centre issue.

A spokesperson for GCC’s Culture and Leisure Services said they would not comment on a private meeting.

St Francis Church building was converted at a cost of £1.3 million by Glasgow City Council and Historic Scotland into a public venue and was formally opened by Sir Jimmy Savile in July 1998. The adjacent friary was converted into elderly persons’ accommodation by the National Trust for Scotland and Amenity Housing. It is now managed by the New Gorbals Housing Association. The former church complex won a Glasgow Institute of Architects award in 1997 for its sensitive conversion from a church into a civic centre.

Councillor Mutter said, ‘I want to make it clear it wasn’t me that instigated the meeting. I was invited to attend to consider the idea. My concern is to re-locate the groups who use St Francis if this happens. There are a number of options but no-one can do anything until we know what the Archdiocese wants and they haven’t reached a decision yet, as far as I know.’

He added that he has been working for three years to get a community facility in Gorbals. ‘I got a leisure centre and I got a library for the area and I want a community centre suitable for everyone, too.’

Gorbals Youth and Community Theatre (GYCT) have used the St Francis centre since 1999. The Company’s General Manager Isobel Barrett said, ‘It’s a real headache. It worries me that we’re in danger of losing it. It’s not as though the centre is struggling, it’s quite well used. The real bone of contention is that no users were informed or consulted. In times when the buzzword is ‘inclusion’, I fear we may be looking at exclusion. It is a trying time.’ Not only does the group use the St Francis Centre for a minimum of four productions each year, they use it weekly for rehearsals and for storing their costumes and equipment. The Centre is unable to take booking after December this year.

Extensive repairs

Built in 1871, the listed landmark church was vacated in 1991 by the Franciscan order whose members lived in the friary behind it. The Order, whose members take vows of poverty, were unable to maintain the building which was much too big for the congregation of that time and required extensive repairs. They were invited by the Archdiocese to run the parish and base themselves in the nearby church of the Blessed John Duns Scotus at Ballater Street. Invited to comment on the current concerns about their former home, the Franciscan spokesman declined and referred the LOCAL NEWS to the Archdiocese.

The Duns Scotus church building was badly damaged by fire around 18 months ago and the sanctuary has remained in a state of disrepair since. People now worship in the church hall. This in turn, has dislocated community groups from that facility. The award winning architect’s company Elder and Cannon has been commissioned by the Archdiocese to draw up designs to refurbish the fire-damaged Duns Scotus.

With the prospective loss of the St Francis Centre and the present loss of the Duns Scotus church hall, local people are scouring the area for alternative meeting places.

A vulnerable group that fears it could be left homeless in that frantic search is the Hayfield Deaf Unit in Moffat Street which is mid-way between the St Francis and Duns Scotus. The Unit is a day centre for deaf adults who have additional, severe, mental and physical disabilities.

Gorbals – and nearby Oatlands - had a population of 10,000 in 2001. Oatlands is well advanced in the building of 1500 houses but has no confirmed public hall or meeting place though such a facility is in the plans and people are hopeful it will materialise.
 
Renowned world wide as an Urban Village because of the dynamic Crown Street Regeneration developments, Gorbals soon could have no village hall to hold a party or a wake, a Gorbals Fair Day or a pantomime performance. Unless, of course, the power of prayer works for the people.