Kingdom Hall to open to the Annan public

Jehovah’s Witnesses are throwing open the doors of The Kingdom Hall in Downies Wynd tomorrow, allowing the public to see the changes carried out during nine to ten weeks of work.
Clive Davies says there is a lot of gratitude for the help provided by local businesses and the council, and he said: “It’s because we appreciate the community’s support; it did cause a bit of disruption with all the work going on.”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses moved to their current home in 2003, vacating the building in Greencroft Wynd which went on to become Sparklers Nursery.
Anticipating there will be interest from the public to see what has become of the Downies Wynd building, Mr Davies said: “Some people might remember it when it was the Co-op Funeral Parlour.”
Extensive work has been carried out at The Kingdom Hall entirely by volunteers who travelled the length and breadth of the country.
Mr Davies said: “There were up to 30 people a day in there, depending on what the jobs were.
“It was basically taken back to the four walls.”
The development includes a state-of-the-art auditorium with platform linked through soundproof glass to an adjoining smaller meeting room.
There is also another meeting room, new toilets and the foyer area has been redesigned to welcome visitors.
Other work included the installation of a new disabled-friendly ramp at the front, plus stainless steel railing.
And a new audio-visual system was installed, as Mr Davies said: “Now, on rare occasions, a discourse can be given in London which can be streamed over the Internet to us.
“At one time if there was a special event we’d go to bigger centres, with thousands there, but now everybody goes to The Kingdom Hall and they log on.”
The open day runs this Saturday from 1-5 pm, with refreshments and no collections.