Hall set to be built in memory of Celtic legend

A new community hall is to be built in memory of Celtic legend Tommy Burns on the site where the Glasgow club was founded.

The building in the Calton area of the city will replace St Mary’s Parish Hall, where hundreds of people gathered for Burns’s funeral a decade ago.

Brother Walfrid founded Celtic Football Club in the original hall and a website – celticdayone.com – has been created to explore the relationship between the Church and the football club, and raise public support for the construction of the new hall.

St Mary’s parish priest Canon Tom White said: “Tommy’s funeral took place in St Mary’s ten years ago, and never have I seen the church and its surroundings busier. It was so fit- ting that Tommy’s Requiem Mass was held in St Mary’s, not simply because of the church’s capacity, nor its ties with Celtic Football Club as its spiritual home and place of birth, but also because Tommy was a Calton boy.

“I have been amazed by the number of calls and enquiries recently asking, ‘Are you doing anything for Tommy?’ I am sure people will agree what we plan to do is very fitting.” 0 The new community space will be named for Tommy Burns