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In 1923 the Marquis decided on a change of policy
in favour of
the sort of
village bookings that we know today, and to this end
a
committee was
set up to administer the Hall.
It held its first meeting
on
August 30th of that year.
The running of Tweeddale Estates had
been put in the hands of Baillie and Gifford, W.S.,
and one of
the
partners of that firm, John Johnstone, was Chairman of the
Committee;
the remaining four members were the Rev. John
Cumming, the Minister of Yester;
the Rev. James Crockett, the
Free Church Minister; Mr. A.
G. Spence, the Butcher in the Main Street;
and Mr. Colin Chisholm, the
Estate Forester.
Robert McNaughtan continued to act as
Clerk and Treasurer.
To encourage the proposed new kind of usage, the
committee immediately
decided to install a
Ladies' W.C. in the back room (the
library was disposed of) and
to buy more chairs,
an urn and a stove.
A long and detailed scale of
charges was drawn up, itemising every
conceivable use,
and
distinguishing between "local" and "not
local", "with stove" or
"without".
The average charge for functions
in the Hall was something
under £1,
with meetings in the front room
at 2/6.
As a result of this
new policy, the bookings in 1924
immediately began to
resemble
those of today very closely. One can
only wonder where these
things had been going on before.
The W.R.I., the Golf Club, the Bowling Club, the Kirk Session,
the Gifford Literary
Society,
hire of chairs by the Goblin Ha' Hotel -
all the usual bookings appear.
The Hallkeeper was paid £20 per annum
plus 1/6
allowance for any
meeting using the stove.
The committee rarely met more than once a year,
and only to
resolve some particular problem.
The same people
continued to serve until May 1940.
(James Crockett died in 1933 and was not replaced)
Electric Light was installed in 1926, the year
that electricity was brought to the village.
As she then no
longer had to tend to paraffin
lamps, the Hallkeeper's remuneration
was reduced by £2 to £18
per annum, a level at which it remained until 1949.
She did,
however,
receive bonuses in recognition of the extra work involved in the
greatly increased use of the Hall.
In 1928 the bonus was I/- for every function attended by more
than 100 people -
and there were 103 such events!
Today although there are many more bookings, an attendance of
100 is very rare,
but in those days there were,
for instance,
weekly
Friday Night Dances organised
by local entrepreneur, John Logan.
They were not without their troubles and soon had to be stopped.
One of the popular bookings in the 30's were the
"Pictures" -
various
Cinematograph Companies took the hall on a weekly basis.
In order to comply with Local Authority Regulations for such
shows, the
outer doors had to be altered so as to open outwards.
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