We are delighted to announce that Kerrera Old School is now officially open as our new island community hub!

Islanders old and new, along with old pupils and teachers from the school, gathered to celebrate the launch of the new hub in March 2024.

The final pupil to attend Kerrera Primary School was islander Ann McGregor, after she left in 1997 the school was closed. Since then, the building was not in use and was falling into disrepair. It was fitting that as a board member of the Isle of Kerrera Development Trust, she cut the ribbon to open the building on the day of the community launch.

In July 2019, the island community purchased the old school building. Islanders were delighted and had been hoping for this for a long time, and were ready to go full steam ahead to turn the much-loved (but dilapidated) building into our new fit-for-purpose community centre.

We were delighted to work with a local and experienced company, MacCallum Roofing and Roughcasting, who did an amazing job on our roof repairs. 

Our new double glazed windows were manufactured by the family run company Scottish Window Solutions in Helensburgh. We are proud to be working with an Argyll based company, particularly as we are getting speciallist Crittall windows- the most suitable for our narrow, gothic arched windows in the main building.

We are thoroughly amazed and delighted with the level of support for our project - to date we have raised £17,872 by community fundraising. Along with the tremendous financial support- the messages of support and encouragement from near and far really means a lot... thank you!

HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED OUR CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN!!! 

Running over six weeks through November and December 2020, we raised £7443 by offering unique island rewards, such as planting an oak tree in our new community wood, buying unique blend island Sea Tea, cuddling the cows, blowdrying a highland coo or feeding the lambs at Balliemore Farm. THANK YOU to all our wonderful supporters! Huge thanks also to the islanders who offered the rewards, we simply couldn't have done it without you. Details of our successful crowdfunder can be seen here: 

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/kerrera-old-school

We also have a Justgiving page to accept your generous donations- huge thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, it really means a lot to us and makes a big difference to our project. Donations can be made here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/kerrera

In December 2019, to fundraise for this big community project, two young islanders challenged themselves to an awesome task, to swim from the mainland to Kerrera- they raised over £5000!

Eachann and Olly's Sponsored Swim

Following some training sessions with their mums and dads, at 8.20am on a dreich Saturday morning, 7th Dec 2019, Olly Vollum and Eachann McGregor-Louw, aged 9, amazed everyone with their incredible achievement! Despite having to swim almost 900m due to drifting with the tide, the boys (and mums) made the swim look easy- making them the youngest (we believe) to ever swim the Sound of Kerrera! Proud islanders cheered them on and everyone has been utterly amazed and delighted by the support received- to date, they have raised almost £4000! WELL DONE BOYS!!!  Further information at www.justgiving.com/kerrera-kids-swim

Background to the Old School Project

Since the Trust was founded and through all the community consultations over the years, one of the main islander priorities has been to secure a community venue. For decades islanders have met in barns, kitchens, fields and boats. Thanks to the Scottish Land Fund we were able to buy the building- then we needed to raise over £500,00 to renovate the building, add new toilets and kitchen facilities, a new septic tank, create parking spaces and make it wheelchair accessible.  We also added a bespoke wooden cabin- the Bothy, for visitor accommodation, which will contribute to the financial sustainability of the project.

Islander, Aideen Shields was on board as our Project Coordinator. Please get in touch with her if you have any questions, and especially if you fancy supporting our cause - aideen@isleofkerrera.org

The rest of the project team was comprised of Jane Churchill as Project Supervisor and Jane Robertson as Technical Project Manager. We are delighted to work with this talented, experienced and passionate team.

Please check out our press release about the purchase.

Our previous news from March 2019 can be found in this press release

If you would like to donate to this project you can click on the link below. Many thanks for your support.

 

HUGE THANKS to our funders for helping us with this project:

Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, CARES (Local Energy Scotland), Island Infrastructure Fund, Garfield Weston, William Grant Foundation, Community Climate Asset Fund (KSB), Scottish Land Fund, Architectural Heritage Fund, National Lottery Community Fund, the Robertson Trust, the Rank Foundation Pebble Grant, the Harbinson Trust and the Hugh Fraser Foundation. Special thanks must also go to the generous private donations and everyone who contributed to our community fundraising.

Regeration Capital Grant Fund and Island Infrastructure Fund
	Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES)