COMMUNITY spirit has saved the day for the much-loved Rothesay Winter Garden after the calamity of Storm Boelo surged across the Clyde.
The building suffered extreme flood damage leaving more than thirty volunteers to bring hard graft and determination to get the place spit-spot for this weekend’s Hallowe’en Extravaganza.
Dorothy McDonald, who leads the Winter Garden team said she was overwhelmed, but not at all surprised at the level of support for the community-owned building.
She explained it was just impossible to prevent the building from flooding, with parts of it under four inches of water.
The cinema has sloped seating, so lots of water gathered at the front towards the screen and the main building itself was inundated.
“Floorboards had to be lifted up by hand and crowbar,” she said. “That exposed linoleum that had been laid a hundred years ago. No wonder VisitScotland covered it up, but it will be perfectly useable. It is being constantly scrubbed clean and we will be open for business at the weekend.”
The army of good-willed, hard-working volunteers are seeing that plan comes to fruition in time for the Winter Garden’s Hallowe’en Extravaganza this Saturday, October 31.
Dorothy McDonald added: “We’ll definitely be dancing the night away. We might not have all the decorations up as planned, but we will be in good spirits.”
Double Nugget will be playing. They have a new line up and a new set list that reads like the cover notes of a treasured mix-tape of punk/pop bangers. Tickets are available cash only from Print Point, or from the cinema kiosk, by cash or card.
Maureen Beattie’s acclaimed one-woman show about the final days of Mary, Queen of Scots was postponed because of the flooding this week, although organisers plan to reschedule it as soon as possible. They’re advising ticket holders to hold on to their tickets and promise refunds if the new date is unsuitable.
As the great clean-up got under way on Monday, the chair of the UK’s Town of Culture 2028 panel Phil Redmond, arrived as planned earlier, to see the Winter Garden.
“The organisers asked if they should call off,” said Dorothy, “but I said not at all. Come in and see us at work.”
She told The Isle of Bute News Mr Redmond seemed impressed. “It looked a bit like a building site. I said to him we can’t hold back the water here, but we can certainly tidy up after it.”
