Fraserburgh's Royal British Legion has issued an apology to the local community having being forced to cancel a number of social events in its hall because of new licensing legislation.
Local charities and groups are now being urged to plan ahead and contact the Royal British Legion early if considering having an event in the hall next year.
A spokesman for the School Street club offered the branch's apologies for having to clos
e the new hall, saying: "We are now only allowed 12 special functions per year. We will have to allocate these for 2011 with care in view of the new rules, which are very strict.
"The licensing authorities have come in and made it clear that we have to be up-to-date with the rules," he said.
The spokesman added that he hoped people would understand the position the club now found itself in, adding: "We feel we wanted people to know that the changes to the licensing laws have had far-reaching effects for us and for many local groups, especially charities who used our hall.
"In line with Charity Commission guidelines, we can only support charities connected to the RBL and the Armed Services.
"We want to make it clear to the public that this is out of our control.
"It is also going to have a financial impact on us, although in many cases we did not charge groups for the use of the hall. We let charities use the hall for free, but we are no longer allowed to do that. This is not going to change.
"We now have a limited calendar as we only have 12 special function slots per year, so we would ask anyone thinking of having an event next year - 2011 - to get in touch with us as soon as they can. They should contact Club Secretary, Gary Mutch."
