In 2017 Moniaive Initiative started using a Big Lottery Fund Development Grant to progress a Concept Design for a proposed Community Shop & Hub project in Moniaive High Street.  Having established through an earlier Feasibility Study that this model could be sustainable in Moniaive, we completed an Options Appraisal on 6 buildings that were at that time available for purchase / lease in the High Street, and finally settled on our ‘target’ building. Unfortunately, specialist surveys eventually showed that our first choice of building was in a worse condition than expected, and not a financially viable option for us.  

In 2018 we re-visited our Options Appraisal and investigated alternative ideas and options.  In May we were kindly allowed by the owners, AMD,  to run a trial ‘Pop Up Hub’ during the weekend of the Moniaive Folk Festival.  This gave us the opportunity to showcase not only our own work, but also that of many other community groups and organisations.  We received positive feedback on this trial, and were able to use it to consider in more detail how we might use that building in the future.

   

In July 2018 we were accepted back onto the Big Lottery / Scottish Land Fund programme, and were subsequently successful with our Stage I application.  We were able to negotiate a 6-month lease of the AMD building to run a longer trial.   We carried out remedial works to enable us to bring the empty building back into use, including inspections of the electrical, plumbing and heating installations, and replacement of the broken front window.  With the help of local volunteers we were able to clean and redecorate the building, to create a warm and welcoming space in which to trial a variety of ideas.

   

We initially borrowed furniture from Dumfries SHAX, and received further donations of furniture, paint and decorating equipment from local residents.  Some of the donated furniture was ‘upcycled’ to provide interesting display space, including clothes rails and display counters made from the solid wooden doors donated from a nearby house renovation.  In all our volunteers spent some 117 hours preparing the building for opening.  Our building intially offered a Pre-Loved Clothes and Accessories section, locally-produced Arts & Crafts, an Honesty Library and community hub area, a Workshop space and a Therapy Room.

We submitted our Stage II application (for purchase costs) to the Scottish Land Fund in early December 2018. Then doors of our ‘Trial Hub’ were eventually opened in mid-December 2018, with a pop-up party for the Living Advent Calendar, followed by an Official Opening event.  We were overwhelmed by the local support for these events.  In early February 2019 we held a competition to name the Hub, and eventually settled on ‘The Hive’.   Later that month we received confirmation that our Scottish Land Fund application had been successful: we were awarded £56,691 and completed the purchase in June 2019.

   

Since then we have worked continuously to repair and upgrade the building to ensure that it can meet our community needs for many years to come. Unfortunately in March 2020 we had to close The Hive due to the Covid pandemic.  With many of the volunteers who staff the Hive being at heightened risk from Covid, we were unable to fully re-open the building until late in 2021.  During this forced closure, a small party of volunteers continued to work on buildinging improvements, installing new floors, upgrading the electrics and plumbing, overseeing roof repairs and replacing plasterwork damaged by damp. The improvements continued in the summer of 2023 when the former Workshop area was converted into an Art Gallery.

Since October 2021 the Hive has employed a Volunteer & Retail Coordinator (VRC) to support our invaluable volunteer shop staff and the numerous small local artisan businesses that sell through the Hive. This post is currently part-funded by a generous grant from the Blackcraig Windfarm Fund through Foundation Scotland. 

You can keep up with all the latest news from the Hive through their Facebook page at:  https://www.facebook.com/thehivemoniaive