Falkirk Community Trust shuts all venues

Sports and leisure facilities, Callendar House, libraries, Falkirk Town Hall and the Hippodrome are just some of the services which are no longer operating due to the coronavirus crisis.

Trust officials say they are following advice from the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland.

Apologising for the inconvenience, they added membership fees will be frozen and refunds given for any classes already booked.

A statement on the trust website said: “It is with regret that Falkirk Community Trust has decided to suspend all services from Wednesday 18th March until further notice in keeping with the Scottish Government’s advice on reducing social contact and maintaining the safety of all of our customers and staff.

“This includes all sports and leisure facilities including Outdoors Activities and Polmonthill Snowsports Centre and all culture facilities including Callendar House, Libraries in addition to the FTH Theatre and Hippodrome which have already closed. Our café facilities at The Helix, Callendar House and Muiravonside will also close, and tours of the Kelpies will be suspended.

“Our thoughts are with everyone across our community at this challenging time. The decision to close our services was done following advice from the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland and aligns us with the UK’s efforts to delay the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19). We look forward to re-opening our doors as soon as we receive the appropriate advice. I would like to thank all of our customers for their patience and understanding in these uncertain times.

“Membership fees will be frozen automatically throughout the closure, and so service users do not need to take action on this. Anyone who has paid for classes or other services that cannot be delivered will be contacted to arrange a refund.

“Falkirk Community Trust provides a range of online resources for the community to use, and we will endeavour to extend these and promote through our online channels as soon as we can.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause and would advise everyone to continue to check our website for updates as they become available along with referring to our FAQs document in the first instance with any queries.”