Since the incorporation of the Nether Lochaber Community Association itself in 2017 there has been discussion around the idea of taking the derelict barn into community ownership and developing it into a social enterprise. Believed to be one of the oldest buildings in the area, the barn is located next to the Forestry Land Scotland car park at Inchree, where locals and visitors access the falls and mountain paths. The idea is to develop a flexible building to be used as a café/gallery/event space. This will not only create a social enterprise business for the NLCA to support the management of the barn and hopefully other community projects but also present income opportunities for local artists, producers and makers.

So far…..

Through a variety of consultation events and surveys over the last five years, the project has gained support and insight from many people across the community. We will continue to listen to your suggestions and feedback so please get in touch if you would like to contribute and please engage with any further consultations we put forward.

After being awarded two grants from Scottish Land Fund (stage 1) of £11,052 and Inspiring Scotland (Rural and Island Communities Ideas Into Action Fund) of £9,840 the Trustees have managed to engage an architect to complete the first two stages of drawings, carryout a variety of physical surveys at the site, explore a feasibility study and write an initial business plan.

Following on from a successful bid for Stage 2 funding from the Scottish Land Fund with the award of £20,174 the Association has now successfully taken ownership of the barn and employed a part-time Project Officer. Lucy Cooke, from Ardgour, will be supporting the Trustees by focusing on promotion, further consultation and fundraising (and anything else we can think of!).

Next steps….

We will now continue to work our way through the various architectural drawing stages in order to gain planning permission and be ready to start the physical renovations.

Money, money, money!

As you can imagine the project will cost a considerable amount of money, estimated to be over one million pounds. The bulk of this will come from grant applications. We are now launching our fundraising campaign to

How can you help?

1. Stay informed! Follow our Instagram and facebook pages for the latest updates and please share posts and tag us in your adventures in the community.
2. Tell your friends! We know that not everyone is on social media and if they do not have access to a computer to look at our website then we would appreciate you talking about the project. We will also be regularly updating our members by email, passing information to the wider community by holding events and also physically through noticeboards and letters.
3. Join us! Become a member of the Nether Lochaber Community Association! Follow the (LINK) for more information.
4. BACK THE BARN! Now that we have ownership of the Barn we need to fundraise the various stages of its development to become operational as a social enterprise. The majority of the support will come through grant funding but in order to be successful we hope to raise £35,000.00 ourselves!! There are a variety of ways to support us to do this which include the following:

• We are launching a CROWDFUNDER CAMPAIGN so keep checking the website for all the goodies you can through donating - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/nether-lochaber-community-association
• Download the Easyfundraising App through this link - http://efraising.org/q3uk9OjYw4 and do your shopping via the app. When you make purchases, the registered businesses will send us donations!
• Get sponsored and do something fun! We already some sponsored events in the pipeline so please get in touch with our Project Officer if you would like to take part- lucy@communitycouncil.netherlochaber.org.uk
• Donate or Buy at next years auction! We will holding an online auction next year with a variety of local experiences and prises on offer. If you are a local business and interested in donating one (for example it could be an afternoon tea in your restaurant or a product you make) please get in touch with Lucy (email above). Alternatively wait for the auction to go live in 2024 and get bidding on something lovely!
• General donations: anyone that feels able can donation via our crowdfunding page

5. Volunteer! Do you have time to spare? We could always do with more hands! Get in touch to see how you can help.

Continued thanks to our current funders