25 YEARS OF MALLAIG AND MORAR COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION
This month (December 2025) marks 25 years since the ‘new hall’, Mallaig and Morar Community Centre, was completed. It was opened in January 2021, and to celebrate, we would like to host an open day in January 2026, looking back at some of the great activities and events that have taken place in the hall. To do this, WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Have you got old photos of events in the Community Centre that you would be willing to scan and share with us? Do you have anecdotes from these events? We want to tell the story from the first Feis Na Mara, which took place in a marquee on the site of the Community Centre in 1997, and sparked the whole idea off; through the three years of fundraising and the build; right up to the present day. Did you go on a fundraising walk? Was your group represented in the tiles around the mosaic in the foyer? Were you part of the Film Club when the hall first opened? Do you remember attending a pantomime in the Hall? Did you go on a PGL adventure trip as part of the youth club? Did you lend your wedding dress for the exhibition that we hosted alongside the Heritage Centre? Did you learn to use a computer through LCNL (Lochaber Communications Network Limited) and gain your ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence!)? Did you meet your partner at one of Keith’s discos? Did you dress up and strut the catwalk as part of Madame Prawn, or at one of the many Hallowe’en parades? Were you part of the Emergency Services Zumba squad for Children in Need? Did you get married, have a birthday party or retirement party in the Hall? Did you play Whist, learn Archery, or even get a degree because of the Community Centre being in Mallaig?
We’d love to see all your photos, and hear all your stories. We’re planning to have the open day towards the end of January (watch out for more details), but please send them on as soon as possible. You can scan photos and send them to us by email, or if you trust us with them, we will do this on your behalf! If you have videos, we would be delighted to see them too! You can email mmcca@btinternet.com, or drop anything in to one of the Jacquelines at either Toys and Gifts or Mallaig Harbour Authority. We promise to take good care of anything you lend us, and to return it to you as soon as possible!
Unfortunately, we have had to take the decision to increase our charges from 1st April 2025.
Our electricity costs have increased over the past few years, and are around £1,000 per month. We have plans to install new double glazing, upgrade our heating and install solar panels, but until we can put all these into practice, we need to be able to cover these costs. Unfortunately, to do this, we need to increase charges.
Over the summer months, we have been fortunate to receive funding from The Highland Third Sector Interface and The Highland Council to install new heating and lighting, which is now complete. We have an interest free loan and cash back from Business Energy Scotland, and match funding from the SSE Hydro Community Fund to install new windows throughout the building (including the college and library as well as the community centre). These will be installed over the winter months. We have also got some funding towards the solar panels, and have applied for the match funding so watch tis space for more news!