A PETITION has been launched for the Greig Memorial Hall to be returned to the Alcester community.
Stratford District Council demanded Greig charity trustees – who ran the community centre – hand over the hall to its care by July with a view to re-opening it.
And to speed up the process, local resident Sheilagh Goode has started a petition – which gained more than 400 signatures in 24 hours.
She said: “This extremely generous gift was made to the people of Alcester by David Grieg in memory of his late wife Hannah Susan Greig.
“The current management have allowed it to fall into disrepair and dilapidation. They still fail to advise the community of how or if they propose to save the building.”
But the Greig trustees say they have paid more than £250,000 in the last decade to pay for repairs to the hall, which they were forced to close as it was no longer financially viable.
They also claim it would cost some £700,000 to reopen it which they cannot afford but say they are ‘open to proposals’.
Management of the hall is expected to be taken on by the town council or a community organisation, once it is handed over.
The Hannah Susan Greig Memorial Hall was permanently closed in 2011 following a financial struggle to run it alongside the Greig Centre – a sports complex also run by the trustees.
Delays for both the leisure centre and the hall to be handed over by trustees have been ongoing for some four years.
