The Loreburn Hall in Dumfries – video
Written by author on February 19, 2011
Here’s a short film showing the plight of the Loreburn Hall in Dumfries; how it has been allowed to fall into disrepair over recent years. The date over the door is 1890.
The hall was initially used to train soldiers hence the local name, “Drill Hall”. Over the years it has held many events from bowling, flower shows, wrestling matches, dancing, conferences, concerts and much more. The hall was closed by the local council about a year ago. The heating was turned off resulting in its wooden floor warping. The gutters filled up with silt causing water to ingress into the building. An indoor bowling club, which used to use the hall, has nowhere to play now and they are talking about disbanding.
Daivd Slater, who made this film, says; “Dumfries is crying out for venues. Alas it looks like we are going to lose another building that has history and was a busy popular venue for a great number of people and if repaired it would be again.”
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Bruce Jeffrey On June 6, 2021 at 10:28 pm
The carpet Bowling in the Loreburn Hall was the best experience for Carpet Bowlers, I was fortunate to Win a few tournaments in this great place, I also made many friends along the way, who still remain friends to this day, it’s such a shame no Carpet Bowling takes place in this historic place.
Doug Russell On February 17, 2012 at 11:24 pm
Billy if you get this please get in touch I would love a good blether about the 70s early 80s boiling scene Iam still playing at Kilncadzow every friday – I was just talking to our wull last week about Bonchester bridge and Denholm and your name came up.
bill kinghorn On December 26, 2011 at 1:12 am
I can remember playing carpet bowls at the Lorebun Hall in the 70’s, the place was very busy,
with over 300 entries for the pairs tornaments and 180 for the rinks ( fours ). I was in a rink that
made it to the final once, it was a long day, we had to win 5 games to get there, it was even more remarkable as we came from the Hawick area and were not expected to beat the local
players, we also had a player in our team with a sore back we were against all odds that day
I now live in Australia, in Perth, Iwill always remember those times at the Loreburn, packed to the rafters with carpet bowlers, a great atmosphere indeed,
What a pity that its in this state of disrepair, It should be brought back to its former glory and be used by the community and all, maybe even have bowling tournament to celebrate its
re-birth.
Cheers, Bill Kinghorn, Perth Western Australia.