A NUMBER of different organisations have given a “clear indication” that they would be interested in taking over the Halesworth Rifle Hall, it emerged yesterday.

A NUMBER of different organisations have given a “clear indication” that they would be interested in taking over the Halesworth Rifle Hall, it emerged yesterday.

A working party set up by Waveney District Council to look into the future of the hall revealed they had found more than two parties who would be willing to take over the reigns.

While Sandra Leverett, chairman of the town council, said she was glad to see progress, she was anxious to see that any potential suitors keep the hall open as a community facility.

Six Waveney councillors formed a group in the summer to look at the future of the hall, in London Road, following a council review that recommended they no longer run the facility.

It has not been revealed who the interested parties are, however it is known that four well-known local groups attended recent meetings about their possible future involvement.

A spokesman from Waveney District Council said: “The working group received a clear indication from different groups that they would be interested in taking on the hall as new trustees.

“This will be fed back to the Charity Board, which will consider the recommendations of the working group.”

Despite finding interested parties, a take over is by no means a done deal, with a strict formal process still to be followed.

If the Charity Board does decide to transfer the responsibilities of the hall, based on the recommendations of the working group, then an invite would be sent to organisations already interested, as well as different user groups.

The working group would then assess the information, and any preferred new trust would be recommended back to the Charity Board for final approval.

The hall will continue to remain open while this work goes on.

Mrs Leverett said that the priority was to keep the Rifle Hall open as a community facility.

“We want the Rifle Hall up and running,” she said. “It's a shame that if we don't get something done soon some of the organisations that use the Rifle Hall might go. It's all we've got as a community facility so we have to ensure we keep it open.

“It's good that there's been some sort of progress, as long as the groups have priority for it to be used as a community facility.”