'We're about improving people's lives': Live Borders chief unveils new vision
Last updated 10th Jul 2026
The charity responsible for managing many of our museums, libraries and leisure centres has unveiled a new five-year strategy – renewing its commitment to improving lives across the region.
It follows concerns Live Borders wider purpose may have been overshadowed during recent debate around service reviews and funding pressures.
CEO Catriona McAllister says the organisation is committed to "reducing barriers to participation" - particularly those created by geography, cost and social isolation - while improving the consistency and quality of services it offers.
"I think what we wanted to do was reconnect with the fact that we are a charity," she told Greatest Hits Radio.
"The charity exists to try and improve people's lives in the Borders through sport, culture, heritage, arts and lifelong learning. But what we really needed was a clear purpose.
"Over all of the difficulties financially, that purpose had been diluted and everything had focused on the financial element.
"Really, this strategy brings us back to what we stand for as a charity and reminds ourselves that improving people's lives is what we're about."
McAllister - almost a year in the role - is well known on the Scottish sporting scene, having been Chief Executive Officer of Oriam, Scotland’s Sports Performance Centre at Heriot-Watt University.
Prior to that, she was Director of Sport and Exercise at the University where she was responsible for the strategic management of university sport and exercise facilities, sports programmes and clubs.
"One of the things we want to feel different by the end of this strategy is that people's social isolation is measurably smaller as a result of engaging with our activities, and that's just a really great thing to get behind," she said.
"We have a lot of buildings, but actually we don't have coverage across all of the Borders.
"So being able to take some of our programmes and services out into those communities where isolation is a little bit higher is really important."
READ MORE: 'No one should be priced out of sport' – Summer of Sport launched in the Scottish Borders
The chief executive said Live Borders hopes to stabilise its finances within the next two years before entering what she described as a "build phase", with the ambition of becoming "one of the best leisure trusts" by 2031.
"What I do hope in the future is that people will judge us by the impact that we're having," she said.
"There will always need to be a financial element, but actually people will say it's real value for money to have a leisure trust delivering all this in the Borders."
There have already been encouraging signs, according to McAllister, with membership across Live Borders facilities already increasing by around 36 per cent.
She said planned investment at Teviotdale Leisure Centre in Hawick, alongside the continued development of facilities at the new school campus in Galashiels, would help build on that momentum.
However, the CEO has had to defend the charity’s plans to build a new padel court facility in Galashiels – just weeks after agreeing to close Tweedbank indoor bowling club in a bid to try to generate more money, by turning it into a new centre for "gymnastics, play and youth fitness".
She stressed the proposed development would be funded by private investment rather than public money.
"That's an opportunity we've seen where we can drive revenue," she said. "That will allow us to take that money and reinvest it into the charitable parts of the organisation.
"So where we see a commercial opportunity, we will maximise that, but it's absolutely not at the detriment of any of the public funded elements that we operate."
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