We aim to bring Cromarty's East Church Hall back into community use and to create an accessible, affordable community cafe and wellbeing hub, a place that's open to everyone, all year round.
Estimated Cost
Not yet known
1) Our aims
Cromarty Community Development Trust is aiming to bring its East Church Hall back into community hands again. The historic building was upgraded in the late 1990s by the community to create a wrap-around childcare centre, which was latterly run by the council. But it has been empty for several years after childcare and preschool were incorporated into the school.
The building is owned by the Highland Council held in the common good, and we have
just been granted the lease again. Our vision is to create a welcoming, affordable, community cafe and wellbeing centre - a safe, warm and nurturing space for everyone - a communal living room, open every day, all year round.
Alongside the cafe area we intend it to become a hub for workshops, classes, health and wellbeing activities, pop-up events and private hires, offering support and information, with office spaces for rent and a tourist information point, all of which will be surrounded by a peaceful garden space for growing, relaxing and playing.
We have been successful in raising funds for Phase 1 of the project, to upgrade the kitchen, refit the toilets, paint and make good some of the decay that arises in empty buildings.
We are now embarking of fundraising for Phase 2 which will involve making the building more accessible, more environmentally efficient and to keep our running costs down.
2) The project’s importance to Cromarty
In considering the project and in order to take back the building purposefully, the Development Trust embarked on a period of consultation and word-of-mouth outreach, this gave us much insight. It is clear that life in a post-Covid world has radically changed the way we live and interact with each other. In our findings and our feedback, the desire for accessible, multi- purpose, affordable spaces to serve the changing needs of modern life and to enhance emotional welfare was consistently highlighted. This is reinforced by Cromarty-specific data in the Black Isle Place Plan, where people sought facilities that support wellbeing, inclusion, cultural activity, and practical skills. A flexible community hub in the East Church Hall would directly respond to these needs.
3) Impactfulness
The positive impact will be seen and measured in many ways:
Environmental sustainability will be upheld by repurposing an existing structure and avoiding the carbon costs of new development. Our planned initiatives in food growing, re-use, repair, and energy- efficiency improvements will contribute to net zero goals and strengthen local resilience.
Emotionally - it’s fair to say that people today, whether in the central belt or across Highland communities, are facing a decline in mental health resilience. In our region, we see that young
people are increasingly accessing support, while our older population shows clear evidence of loneliness and isolation. Age UK calls loneliness “a crisis hiding in plain sight.”
- “19% of young people in Scotland aged 16 - 24 experience loneliness most or all of the time (Change Mental Health)
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Our hope is that the East Church Hall will provide a welcoming, inclusive third space where people can connect through just being together in a communal, warm, multi-generational neutral space - somewhere to share new opportunities with people of all ages and in all life situations, to break the cycle of isolation. We will have shared meals, singing, physical health interventions, activities, and learning and we hope to host groups working in mental health and wellbeing, helping to address some of the challenges of modern rural life.
“We need to be more innovative about the spaces we create to support mental wellbeing in rural Scotland.” (Voluntary Health Scotland)
• Practical Benefits are strong. Clearly without intervention, this much-loved building would fall into further disrepair. Restoring and repurposing it ensures preservation of a valued community asset and keeps it alive and useful again for future generations.
The hall will also support practical skills of the townspeople through classes, tool sharing, repair initiatives, and bike maintenance facilities—keeping knowledge alive and strengthening resilience.
• Economically, our plans combine commercial, semi-commercial, and non-commercial activities, with the income from office rentals going towards sustaining the building and activities. This will allow us to subsidise some affordable community and social uses, ensuring inclusive access for all. And for the town’s businesses, a vibrant East Church Hall will bring new energy to the end of Church Street, increasing footfall and benefiting local traders. A tourist information point will encourage sustainable, slow tourism, supporting visitors to spend more time in Cromarty.
4) Where are we now?
The project has raised funds to complete Phase 1, to refurbish the kitchen, upgrade the toilets and to paint and tidy up enough to get the building open, hopefully this Autumn.
We have also raised funds to get an eco options appraisal done, which is underway and, together with architectural guidance, we are currently preparing Phase 2 funding bids to make the changes needed to make the hall environmentally sustainable, and hopefully more cost- efficient to operate and the upstairs level of the building fully accessible. We aim to begin this work as soon as we have the funding in place.
Cromarty will benefit greatly from having the cherished East Church Hall restored as a vibrant community hub. Our plans are always evolving and community input is crucial - we are building on the legendary Cromarty community spirit, creativity and energy that has long been in the town’s DNA, hoping to create something important for all of us, and at every stage in our lives.
“47% of over-50s spend less money on socialising because of the cost-of-living crisis.” (Age UK)
5) Project start date
We have already embarked on the project, clearing the garden and gathering volunteers to help on designing and doing some community engagement for ideas. We’ve have a fabric condition assessment carried out and are just waiting for the reports on the building and are beginning the big tidy up.
Phase 2 funding applications will be prepared over the summer.
We hope to be in the building this Autumn with any ancillary work happening over the winter.
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