HARDY Clacks volunteers have been busy clearing up a whisky heritage site in Alloa all while collecting the stories of former staff.
Resonate Together volunteers have been replacing boarded up windows and managed to start removing debris at the former Carsebridge Distillery site.
The Alloa good cause has a license to occupy Ochil and Harvey houses, which formed part of what was once the largest site within Scottish Grain Distillers.
Resonate is continuing with an ambitious bid to secure £300,000 and buy out the buildings and previously appealed for people with a connection to the site to get in touch.
Since the launch of the appeal, Resonate has been hearing some wonderful stories from the friendships made to the life-long cooperage skills developed by people there.
Volunteer Mary Banks has been involved with the clean up effort, discovering the buildings in the process.
She told the Advertiser: “We are just a group of volunteers, come along in-between work and other commitments and we all just muck in to help.
“It's just been a massive clean up effort but there has been some bits and pieces found, paperwork, pictures and things like that from the old offices.”
She added: “The energy that we've all got to get this place cleaned up and turn it into a creative hub – whatever the community wants it to be, really – it has just been amazing to be a part of something.
“I feel like it has really brought the community together.”
People outside of Resonate Together are also starting to take notice of the activities.
Mary added: “We had somebody in there the other day, his grandfather had actually worked for the distillery.
“He came in with his granddaughter to have a wee look at the place – it's the first time they've ever been in there.
“You get dog walkers and locals going past, they are all really keen to know that something is being done with the buildings for the community rather than see it getting demolished.”
Little remains of the original distillery today.
The 10acre site can trace its origins to 1799 but most of the buildings were demolished in the 1990s, following a downturn in the market.
Mary said: “It was such a big part of the community with lots working in the distillery, it'd be such a shame for the buildings to just go
“There's an idea that we could have a room dedicated to the history of the place.”
Anyone who worked at Carsebridge can contact Hello@ResonateTogether.org.uk or find Resonate Together on Facebook.
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