A Team that eats at West Barns plays at West Barns

[Ali_Wee_Jag]

"A Team that eats at West Barns plays at West Barns" - by Cllr Norman Hampshire.

This is the direct threat that Councillor Norman Hampshire, Deputy Leader of East Lothian Council, made to a full meeting of the Dunbar United Football Club committee a few months ago. It now appears to be happening as the sports centre that encompasses the football stadium continue to get more and more awkward to deal with. 

First of all, it was not being allowed to play friendly matches on our own pitch. Then it was not being allowed to train on our own pitch, meaning extra expense in renting the 3G facility that is owned by the Council and not the Hallhill Sports Centre. 

Then a fortnight ago, the club committee found themselves locked out of the sports centre for their weekly committee meeting. This resulted in one wheelchair bound weekly lottery volunteer and their carer to either sit out in the freezing conditions or go home without assisting.

Finally, on Saturday... everything came to a head. The club were locked out of the committee rooms and the tea bar. This meant that visiting players, committee and supporters were unable to have the benefit of the usual club hospitality and there was a distinct lack of Pie & Bovril. All we can do is apologise to everyone connected to Arniston Rangers and try to make sure it will not happen again - but at this stage we can give no guarantees. 

Add this to the fact that  the full size goals used for training on East Lothian Councils 3G pitch used by Dunbar United on Tuesdays and Thursdays now have been getting padlocked in an attempt to make them unusable. 

This is not a new problem with Hallhill and its board, there have been ongoing problems and niggles ever since the facility opened back in 2001 and the football clubs problems with a particular individual go back even further to the original Countess Park days. 

I hear that meetings and such like are likely to be held in the next days or weeks but at the moment, this is the state of affairs at Dunbar United. 

I am not a committee member of the club but I have the full support of the club who know and asked me to post this article. There will most likely be updates and future developments will be posted here.

[Burnie_man]

That's not good to hear.  What is the specific problem (if you're able to share it)?

[RobM]

What was the situation with the sale of the old Countess Park?  All monies go to the club or to the Council?

Hope all goes well, like heading down to Dunbar.

[quickoverayard]

I thought Norman, Drew and the entire Hampshire family had ties to Dunbar??

[Hertz1874]

The committee room was certainly open when the Tweedmouth game was called off. Sometimes committee members say to much or mingle too much and has a knock-on effect. 

[RobM]

What does the title mean by the way?

[Jason King]

I'm really glad you registered over 5 years ago and have just decided to break your posting virginity to post about something no one has cared about in 8 months.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Jason King