Once famed for its music-hall shows, parish events, amateur theatrics, cinematic projections, and concerts (which also featured the young Giacomo Puccini playing dance music and accompanying songs to earn a crust of bread for himself as a student) the Sala Ducci, property of the local church, sank into oblivion until it was saved by the Auser voluntary association and refashioned as a meeting place, library, computer room, teaching area, music room and all-purpose social centre.

With over six thousand books, CDs and five computers – all donated by our locals – and with the help of a band of devoted volunteers the Sala Ducci has revealed itself for what it is: a beautiful neo-classical building with finely detailed architectural features including a minstrel’s gallery. It’s a space fully fit for the social life it was originally designed for. The chestnut shelves, again all donated and assembled by volunteers, contain volumes in Italian, English and other languages.

This week a further feature has been added to this elegant space: its first art exhibition. Artists Sharane Darlington and Meg Reilly have found it an ideal space to display their creations which include a highly imaginative use of mixed media from pastel to photography.

The inauguration took place last Saturday and clearly other artists will be encouraged to adopt this space to display their creations.

When one consider that Auser is not only able to feed the mind with its new artistic offerings at Ponte a Serraglio but has for years been involved in helping needy families in our area especially with regard to food and clothing then full praise and support must be given to this not-for-profit association. We ourselves, although not unusually needy, have been helped with clothes and furniture from one of Auser’s recycled centres. Here again, Auser has proved invaluable in repurposing closed-down shops (of which there are too many in Bagni di Lucca) and it now has over ten sites enabling the public to purchase by donation anything from plates and cups to often quite valuable antique pieces of furniture.

Where do all these second-hand items come from? Sadly our valley is still in a state of depopulation since World War Two. This is despite the increasing number of northern Europeans wishing to spend their holidays here and perhaps purchase a holiday home. Apart from the considerable number of closed-up houses there are their contents to be considered. In less promising times much was off-handily sent to the junk yard to be discarded or even burnt. At worse things were even fly-tipped! Now with the resurrected credos, so essential in these times of recession and ever- inflating costs of living, of making do and mending and of recycling as much as possible Auser’s industry and indomitable will particularly under the directorship of its leading member Gemma Fazzi (she of the well-known Lucca publishing house) is showing the way forwards. With its newly refurbished Ducci Hall in addition to all its other multifarious activities Auser (its name taken from the classical Roman name for our river Serchio) is a superb example of what a community can do to improve its quality of life under increasingly challenging conditions.