TALC to tell tales of Tarbert’s Templars’ Hall
One of Tarbert’s most recognisable waterfront buildings is opening its doors to the public to mark the 20th anniversary of its reopening as an arts and leisure space.
Templar Arts and Leisure Centre (TALC) in Tarbert is hosting a 20th anniversary celebration next Saturday (November 26) from 10am3pm, when people are warmly invited to drop by and learn more about the hall.
The old Templars’ Hall was so badly deteriorated that Argyll and Bute Council decided in 1998 that it was no longer fit for use.
The trustees, from all the churches in Tarbert, thought of selling it but Mary Y Smith felt strongly that it should be kept for the community.
It could be restored as a place to hold classes and meetings, or just somewhere to sit and read or chat to others - an alternative to the pub.
Encouraged by her husband, she sought others willing to work out a way to get it rebuilt.
Dr Robert Smith and his wife Wendy, Ian MacIntyre, Duncan Henderson, Iain Robertson, Douglas Robertson and Mary’s husband John Smith were on the committee chaired by Mary.
Their first job was to draw up a constitution and have it ratified, under a new name and new board of trustees.
They also began fund-raising activities; Robert recalled they managed to raise about £8,000 by various means until in 2001 the Templar Arts and Leisure Centre Trust was awarded the full amount needed - £407,000 - by the National Lottery Fund.
They invited architectural firms to submit proposals and chose the one from Dune Design Associates of Fife.
It was built by M&K MacLeod, and officially opened on Saturday November 23, 2002.
During building work, a hand-written document was discovered, preserved in a sealed jar, beneath the memorial stone of the original building.
That memorial stone is now set in an inside wall.
The document gives the story behind the building of the first hall, reading: ‘The use of a Public Hall was a want long felt in Tarbert.
‘The fishermen especially needed a place where they could occasionally meet for instruction and entertainment, when Good Templarism was instituted in Tarbert…according to the constitution of that order members had to meet once a week…accordingly it was unanimously resolved to build a suitable Hall and that with the least possible delay.’
The Independent Order of Good Templars (IOGT) was part of the temperance movement in America.
The first Scottish lodge was established in Glasgow in 1869. Unlike the fraternal orders on which it was modelled, membership was not restricted by gender or religion: anyone could be a Good Templar, so long as they agreed to abstain from alcohol.
Lodge Number 569, called ‘Tarbert Lifeboat Lodge’ was established in July 1871 with 30 members. By the following summer, membership had risen to nearly 180.
Around £200 was raised by subscription to cover building costs, and lodge members built it over the summer of 1872.
Colin George Campbell of Stonefield granted rights to the land in feu for a nominal sum of five shillings a year, ‘so long as it would be used for the purposes originally intended’.
This purpose was not only for the Good Templars to hold meetings, but also to provide local people and visitors with a space for social, entertainment, or educational use.
‘I do hope it survives; it would be a shame for Tarbert to lose that facility.’
Many connections link the original Good Templars Hall and today’s TALC.
Names on the list of original members include many known in the village today.
Dr Robert Smith, a trustee when TALC was registered in 1999, is the great-grandson of John Wier, one of the signatories in 1872 – and the desire that it should serve everyone in the village, as well as visitors, remains.
Mary remembered the ceilidhs that were held in the old hall when she was a child, and thought the new hall, expanded by two additional storeys, could offer spaces for hire for entertainment and social events, but also for educational purposes.
She hoped it could be used by younger people, who had nowhere to gather in Tarbert in those days.
Her particular interest was to promote the arts, and she thought it ‘marvellous’ when in 2014 the Creative Arts, Technology and Education Programme (CREATE) started up at TALC to offer support to young people for portfolio development to apply to art college and other educational opportunities.
Groups besides CREATE that use the premises on a regular basis now include Art in the Attic, Camarata, Feis, the Freemasons (Tarbert Loch Fyne Lodge 136), Friendship
Group, Fyne Spinners, THA, and Tarbert and Skipness Community Trust.
Instruction in Tai Chi, art and dance classes are also offered there.
Recalling the early days, Dr Smith felt it had been a success: ‘In our first year of operation I think we made £12,000.
‘There were art classes, dancing classes, a film club, painting groups, a drama group (that didn’t last very long), coffee mornings, and more.
‘I am delighted we got the building put up and that it is still going strong…or strong-ish.
‘I do hope it survives; it would be a shame for Tarbert to lose that facility. I think there could be much more done with the hall.’
The current trustees and management committee, headed by new chairperson Ferelyth Bruce-Lockhart, would like to attract more regular users, and keep the hourly rental charges low, especially for groups of young people or pensioners.
But the recent steep increase in the cost of heating and general upkeep of the building means it cannot continue to survive on the rental income alone; without additional sources of income TALC will soon go bankrupt.
To this end the current trustees are looking to the community for ideas of what activities they would like to be available there, in order to apply for funding for a part-time project manager to take these forward.
Mary expressed her hope that the community would back the new committee in finding ways to go ahead.
She said: ‘It is important to be motivated, to put work into the service of the building and improve things for the community.’