It rains in Fort William. It rains a lot. Sitting in the shadow of Ben Nevis, Fort William might be the Outdoor Capital of the UK, but when the West Highland rain sets in, the 12,000 people who live here need a roof over their head, and a warm place to come together.

For nearly thirty years, that place has been the Nevis Centre.

“Most people don’t live here because of what’s inside – there’s so much that goes on outside,” says Katie, a local mum and board member. “But we also don’t have the weather for that all year round. So it’s fantastic to have a space inside when we don’t have the sunshine.”

On those days – and there are many – the Nevis Centre glows like a beacon. Step inside on a wet Tuesday and you realise you aren’t entering a leisure centre, but the living room of Lochaber.

Inside the rain is drowned out by the tiny clatter and giggles in a tap dance class, the crash of bowling pins, and chaotic laughter of children chasing each other with toy lasers in the soft play, while their mums catch their breath over a cup of tea in the café.

With the nearest comparable facility 90 miles away, the Nevis Centre is a lifeline.

“We don’t have a town hall in Fort William,” says Chris Heardman, Chair of Linnhe Leisure, the charity that runs the Centre. “This is our town hall. This is our village hall.”

Everything for everyone

Hiding inside this cosy community space is a vast 700-capacity hall – home to the biggest stage in Scotland outside Edinburgh – and several large studios. These spaces are hired out for a vast array of activities and events, with commercial hires subsidising affordable community rates. 

The Centre wasn’t always run this way. The charity took over from a private company. “Instead of putting the money back into the centre, they were putting it into their pockets” says Chris, leaving the community with a building in need of some love. That is when the community stepped in, taking on a 127-year repairing lease, replacing a model of extraction with one of investing in the community.

Today, there are no shareholders. “Every penny we make goes back into the centre,” says Chris.

There’s an incredible variety of activities happening in the Nevis Centre, and demand for the space is enormous. They host concerts, conferences, and national festivals like the Royal National Mòd. “We could literally sell this room out probably ten times over because the demand is so high,” says General Manager Mark Ewen. “The challenge is trying to make everything fit.”

The revenue from a sold-out concert or a packed trade show subsidises the weekday evening Glee Club, youth drop-in sessions, community sport, art clubs, and the warm, welcoming space for the Montrose Group – a lifeline for adults with learning disabilities who come for meals, bowling, and silent yoga.

Getting the balance right between income generating commercial bookings and subsidised community bookings is an ongoing challenge for the Centre. “We work really, really hard with people to try to make sure that things are affordable,” says Mark. “What we generate as a company we put back in to support these things.”

More than bricks and mortar

The economic impact is staggering. Chris estimates that events like the Mòd can “bring about £15 million into the area,” filling every hotel and B&B in town.

But the community impact is just as big. Around 29% of the local community uses the centre every week, and for nearly 75% of them they have no alternative, with other options too far away.

“It’s like a gigantic town hall,” says Chris. “It’s a place where everyone can come together.” 

Sitting in the café, Katie agrees. She’s been taking her children to the Centre since they were babies. “Space to come together in community and actually see how much we have in common is so essential.”

In an area facing genuine challenges with social deprivation and rural isolation, the Centre is an essential shared space. “It’s a large community, but it’s a very small community because everybody knows everybody,” Chris says. That means when something happens, that can affect everybody, meaning a space to come together is vital.

“I have made friends here, I’ve kept friends here, we’ve kept each other sane here,” says Katie. For her daughter Lana, 12, the Centre is a social anchor: “After lockdown people were unconnected, this place brought people back together. I’ve made so many new friends during the clubs. If I didn’t have the centre I’d feel quite isolated.”

Mark and his team step up to the need not just to provide spaces, but to fill them with connection and care. In the games room, young people who might otherwise be at home gaming alone, or sitting in McDonald’s, have a dry, safe space where they can hang out together. “We try to kind of use it as a chance to talk to them, as well and give them an opportunity for them to talk to us,” says Mark.

These spaces are essential. Chris puts it plainly: “If you take away all our clubs and classes, there is nowhere else for them to go.”

The power of the network

Running a facility of this scale in a rural area comes with a unique set of challenges. Scottish Rural Action (SRA) makes sure they are never alone.

SRA acts as a bridge between rural and island communities across Scotland, and national policymakers, ensuring the needs and challenges of these grassroots organisations are heard and supported. “Our job is to shine a light on them,” says Artemis Pana, SRA’s National Coordinator. “To help them get the resources they need to take control of their own futures.”

In 2023 SRA hosted the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament at the Nevis Centre, bringing 400 people who live and work in rural and island Scotland to discuss the issues that matter to them. This was a unique opportunity to share experiences, knowledge and ideas with people running similar organisations and buildings, realising their struggles weren’t unique. 

For Mark, it was eye-opening: “Regardless of the size of the building, we all had the same issues and concerns.”

The value of solidarity through these connections is not to be underestimated. “The benefits of being part of Scottish Rural Action is that we are all singing from the same hymn sheet,” says Chris. “You can go to a tiny place on Raasay with a tiny community hall, and they are having the same problems. It’s a morale boost. You don’t feel isolated, you don’t feel as if you’re the only person that’s struggling.”

SRA connects and amplifies these rural voices, turning individual challenges into a collective call for policy change. “Bringing everyone together allows you to share knowledge,” Mark says, “and have a bigger voice.”

The cliff edge

Despite their huge impact, the Nevis Centre walks a financial tightrope. The cost of living crisis has hit hard, and the current funding model is broken.

“The electricity is just one example,” Chris says. “It’s gone from £33,000 a year to £76,000 in three years. And that extra £40,000, where do you get it from?”

“We can’t simply transfer our increased costs for utilities onto all the local groups,” Mark says. “It’s not sustainable for them.”

Meanwhile, funding from Highland Council has dropped from £230,000 to £91,000, while their costs have doubled. Meanwhile funding applications are exhausting the organisation’s precious capacity. Chris describes spending 30 hours on an application for roof repairs.

“We actually live month-to-month on what we’ve got and there is no spare cash anywhere for anything,” says Chris. “The funding that Highland Council gives us every year – we don’t know until the end of March whether we’re actually going to get it for the next year. So we could be looking at another 90-odd thousand pounds that we’ve suddenly got to find from somewhere.”

Then there is the Fort William 2040 Masterplan, a Highland Council vision promising them a new building in fifteen years.But for the team holding the current building together, it feels like a frustrating limbo, and more uncertainty. “I don’t think this centre actually has 15 years,” says Chris, “we would like to have assurances that we are going to get the building that we actually need, and not what they want to give us.”

A model for the future

The story of the Nevis Centre is a story of Community Wealth Building in action: local control, local reinvestment, and economic and social value returned to the community. But for this model to survive, the system needs to evolve.

They need more understanding and recognition of the work they do, and the value it creates for their community. They need long-term, secure funding to give them the certainty they need to invest. 

“Listen to us, understand us,” says Mark, “and provide the reassurances that we need so we can continue to grow and strive, and be the vital community asset that is already here.”

Outside, the rain is still falling on Fort William. Inside, the lights are on, and singing soars to the rafters of the hall, the roof over Lochaber.

 

Read more from our series This is Community Wealth Building and what we’re calling for to support Community Wealth Building across Scotland.