Walking down the steps of Coats was a dream come true
Dorothy, 74, on why iconic building should be saved
A former member of underthreat Thomas Coats Memorial Church has spoken out on what the building means to her.
Dorothy Driver, 74, is urging the people of Paisley to get behind the drive to save it.
A campaign – 100 Days to Save Coats Memorial – has been launched, with a plan to turn the building into an events venue.
Mrs Driver, who remains of trustee of the church which closed last August due to financial pressures, was the third generation of her family to attend it.
She said: “Coats Memorial is a stunning building. Architecturally it is second to none in the area.
“Aside from the fact that it has served my family as a church for three generations and holds such dear memories for me, I understand that it needs to start earning its keep .
“The plans for making it a multicultural events space are ideal.
“It will still function as a wedding venue which I think is fantastic.
“I got married at the church, as did my children, and for me it was my dream from a young age to walk down those steps in a white wedding dress.
“For me that dream came true but I couldn’t bear to think that other families would miss out on weddings and other life celebrations in the building because we couldn’t save it.”
And Mrs Driver is proud of the history of the architectural masterpiece that is Coats Memorial, which was built in memory of Thomas Coats, who was a member of the famous mill-owning family.
“Mr Coats was a very generous man as well as a very successful man who wanted to invest in charity and community causes,” she said.
“One story that really stands out to me was when the Coats family were asked to help build the nurses’ home for the old hospital in Paisley.
“Mr Coats asked to see the plans for the proposed building, because he knew how important this building was, he told the developers it should be bigger, and asked how much it would take to build. He was more than happy to hand over the money.
“The family really was the Bill Gates of the Paisley community – so generous.”
When Coats Memorial was being built, the Coats family enlisted the best of the best to carry out the work.
Some of the people involved in the build had previously worked on Edinburgh Castle and Lichfield Cathedral. The attention to detail was striking, particularly when it came to acoustics. Above the main area in the church, a series of wires were installed to disperse sound around the building.
The church remains close to Mrs Driver’s heart but said she understands it needs to evolve and urges people to save this memorial to a very special Paisley family.
She recalled the many successful Doors Open Day events held at the church in recent years.
“The first year that we did the Doors Open Day was fantastic. We had well over 1,000 people through the doors,” she said.
“After that year we thought numbers would diminish but they never did – every year we welcomed more and more people through the doors and everybody was always taken aback at how beautiful the interior of the church was.”
To donate to the 100 Days to Save Coats Memorial Appeal visit https:// www. justgiving. com/ campaign/ 100daystosavecoatsmemorial