Four new trustees have been appointed at a popular Cockermouth charity as it prepares to reopen to the public later this year.
The four responded to a recruitment drive by Kirkgate Arts and Heritage last autumn.
The charity runs the Kirkgate community venue which is home to a diverse range of social and entertainment activities.
It also runs Cockermouth Heritage Group, Arts Out Wide, an online offering, and Arts Out West, the project that helps village halls put on shows by professional musicians, entertainers, theatre companies and dance groups.
The new trustees are Cockermouth residents Andy Semple and Sue Moses, Nanette Rigg of Blindcrake and Duncan Nicholson of Dearham.
Mr Semple is a retired senior manager at Cumbria’s JobCentres and is now a Cockermouth Town and Allerdale Borough councillor.
Mrs Moses has been a governor at Cockermouth School for 20 years, most recently as chair of the board.
Ms Rigg is a creative industries specialist running her own company focusing on economic regeneration, place-making and events.
Mr Nicholson is the regional head of funding for the National Lottery Community Fund.
“We are thrilled to welcome four such versatile, experienced and motivated new trustees onto our board,” said Kirkgate chair Marion Bowman.
“The pandemic has presented many challenges but also some opportunities.
“While our building has been closed to the public for most of the past year we have been reviewing our plans for the future.
“We are rethinking what we can do to bring life back to Cockermouth as we recover from the blows the pandemic has dealt to communities up and down West Cumbria.
“We want to play our part in ensuring our communities thrive once again and our new trustees are very committed to that effort.”
Ms Bowman said that the government’s road map is being used to plan a timetable for opening the doors again at the Kirkgate, with some new projects in the pipeline for later this year and next.
