HUNDREDS of people attended the opening day of the long-awaited revamped Fraser Centre in Tranent last Saturday, November 9.

The community hub, on Winton Place, has now been completed and is open to the public.

The project was finished on budget at £2.6million and the venue – a former cinema – hosts a cafe, activity rooms, meeting rooms and offices. There is also a 116-seat cinema.

The centre’s trustees welcomed guests such as community leaders and politicians to a reception there on the Friday evening before doors were opened to the public on the Saturday.

The centre’s first public event was a Macmillan Cancer Support coffee morning on the Saturday, which was extremely popular.

A long queue of guests were served refreshments at the 10.30am event which took place before the centre’s 2-4pm open day.

Close to 600 people were estimated to have visited the centre throughout the day. A children’s entertainer attended, music was provided by Radio Saltire and a host of other family-friendly activities took place.

David Orr, The Fraser Centre’s project and development manager, said: “The day was just amazing. I was absolutely blown away with the enthusiasm and how pleased people were with what we have managed to create here.

“We think there was about five or six hundred people in the centre throughout the day. People were surprised and impressed by the facilities. All the feedback was really positive.

“The place was really brought to life and it gave people an idea of what the place will be used for.

“We had all ages coming into the building, which was really nice: everyone from young children to teens and up to OAPs.

"The trust want to encourage people to continue to come and see the centre and find out more about what we have coming up. At the moment we are open Monday to Friday, 9am-2pm, and also for scheduled events outside of those hours. The hours will expand in 2020 and the cafe will also open full-time next year.

"We have a couple of films coming up in December. The first to play will be Frozen 2 on Saturday, December 14, at 3pm and then we have Last Christmas at 7pm on the same day.

"We also have a family Christmas arts and craft event on December 7 where people will be welcome to come along and make things like Christmas decorations.”

David added: “The trust would also just like to say thank you to everybody who came and supported us. We were so proud to open the building and welcome people in.

"We’re now looking forward to hosting lots of events. We have already had lots of enquiries from people who are looking to hire the centre in the future.”

The Fraser Centre has vacant office space suitable for up to three people to share. Contact David for details.