Clyne Heritage Society

One of the founding aims of the Society was to establish a heritage centre, to illustrate the rich history of Brora and the surrounding area. Over the years, we considered many ways that we could achieve this aim, and were delighted when, in 2009, Scottish and Southern Energy suggested that they convert the Old Clyne School into a heritage centre for the Society.
SSE bought the former Old Clyne School in 2003 as a temporary construction yard for their windfarm developments in the west of the Parish of Clyne. Since that time, the Society has worked closely with SSE to ensure that the building, and its history, is valued and cared-for in the future. Their initial proposal was to adapt the building for the Society, but this eventually evolved into a long-term agreement for SSE to give Clyne Heritage Society the building and a donation of £1 million to aid its conversion into a museum and exhibition centre.
Since the Society started, in 1998, we have amassed an amazing archive of documents, photographs and artefacts. Over the years, we have organised annual exhibitions at the Brora Library, and been closely involved with the exhibitions at the Brora Heritage Centre at Upper Fascally, and our members have formed the core of volunteers who have staffed the centre. In 2016, we took over the management of the Centre, and, with the support of HighLife Highland, we have developed the Centre into a popular and much-loved visitor attraction for Brora and its surrounding area. Our management experience will be invaluable as the new Centre develops.
Our plans have evolved as we have sought to include those features that we believe will ensure the long-term viability of the Centre. In October 2020, we made our Planning Application to Highland Council. The plan is ambitious, and will cost more than our present funds, so we continue to make grant applications to achieve our aim.
This revitalised building will have appropriate facilities to enable it to thrive in the future to display, store and research the unique history of this highland parish.
We are very grateful for the support we receive from SSE, HighLife Highland, Highland Council officers and councillors, Brora Community Council, local and national funding bodies, and, particularly, the members of Clyne Heritage Society who are there - all the way.

In 2003, Scottish & Southern Electricity (SSE), developers of a local wind farm, purchased the derelict, 1863-built, Old Clyne School (OCS) site with a view to demolishing the boundary wall to gain access for their large plant from the A9 to their site. Planning permission was denied and the building became a responsibility for them and surplus to their requirements. SSE contacted CHS in 2009, with a view to renovating it for use as a heritage centre.
After lengthy negotiations, in February 2018, SSE gifted the building, together with £1,000,000 to CHS for redevelopment of the site as its own Brora Heritage Centre. Circa £80k of this has been spent on necessary surveys, reports and design plans.
The building is perfectly situated on the main Inverness to Caithness arterial A9 Trunk road, on the northern outskirts of Brora, at its junction with the public road to the nearby Clynelish Distillery and its tourist visitor centre. It also lies on the new and increasingly popular NC500 tourist route.
The kind gift by SSE of the OCS to CHS, together with a £1m renovation fund, has afforded the Society the opportunity, with the securing of further funds, to renovate the building. This will enable it to function as a focus for community heritage, thereby fittingly returning it to be a place of education once again. With the site and around a third of the renovation budget secured, this project is within grasp.
The building’s renovation for future use as a Heritage Centre is perceived by CHS as a further evolution of its fabric and function, but an evolution that will first conserve, and then exemplify, the essential features of its architect’s original design. It will be a big ‘step-up’ for CHS, but one which it is confident of being able to take.
The Society is still in the process of raising the remainder of the c£2m required to get the redevelopment underway.
The project will actually deliver:
• The renovation of a derelict C-listed former parish school (1863-1903), now owned by CHS, prominently located on the A9 trunk road (part of the NC500 tourist route), on the northern side of the village of Brora;
• The opportunity for CHS to relocate from the existing Highland Council-owned BHC, poorly located 1km from the village on a side road;
• The use of the building as the Heritage Centre for CHS, as well as a focus for all of its locally well-supported activities, maximizing its location to attract passing visitors;
• A first-class café and retail area, to sustainably support the operation of the centre;
• The flexibility of the café space to be transformed into a seated auditorium or open space for events;
• Widespread social and economic benefits to the area.

The OCS building has been extended and internally altered since it first opened as a school in 1863, having been put to a number of subsequent uses. It was used as a school until 1903, then converted into flatted dwellings. It was last inhabited around 1975 when it was purchased by an adjacent fruiterer’s business and used as a store, until it was purchased by SSE. Now lying derelict, but reasonably structurally sound, it was listed C-category in 2003 and it is one of only two buildings in Brora which are listed on Historic Environment Scotland’s Buildings at Risk register.

The only unfulfilled aim of the CHS constitution has been the establishment of a museum. Object ‘f’ of the original 1998 CHS constitution, and Clause 4.6 of the current constitution, states that the organisation shall seek ‘To set up a museum and to acquire, by means of gift, purchase or loan, historical relics and records for the purpose of exhibition, preservation and safe custody.’
Having operated the remotely-located, seasonal BHC since 2016, CHS has been using this experience to feed into its design and operational plan for relocation to the OCS. CHS tenure at the BHC is not secure; there is an annual rolling agreement with Highlife Highland regarding its operation and other venues in the village from which CHS carries out its activities, ie Brora Community Centre and Brora Library are similarly unsecured.
From the redeveloped OCS, CHS will operate an expanded heritage service from a purpose-redesigned historic building to a much wider audience, all year round. It will be the responsibility of CHS to ensure that the complete operation is totally sustainable and this will be given as much priority as the heritage offer.

In order to realise its aim of renovating the OCS and, from there, operating Brora Heritage, CHS will:

• Creatively design a bespoke facility to provide a better, more visible heritage service in the locality than has previously been provided at the more remotely located BHC;
• Redevelop the OCS building and site and be open for business by Summer 2021;
• Increase the BHC visitor numbers at the OCS 8-fold by the end of its first full year – it’s location and marketing strategy will ensure this;
• Create a brand-awareness of OCS as a first-class, sustainable destination heritage attraction for locals and tourists, as well as a focus for members and visitors to engage in a full programme of year-round projects and activities;
• Provide a centre for the Society’s activities and a place for the Members and the local community (including activities with Brora Primary School, the Brora Learning Centre and Engaging With Activity) to meet to pursue their heritage interests and interact socially, all with modern facilities and a first class café/flexible auditorium;
• Establish a carefully-designed, stylish café (with impeccable conveniences) from day one, to gain a reputation which will draw customers in, either specifically visiting the museum or travelling the A9, thereby raising a revenue stream to help sustain the entire operation;
• Establish a carefully-designed and thoughtfully-stocked retail sales area from day one, concentrating on tasteful heritage-related products, books and local crafts and foodstuffs, to gain a reputation which will draw customers in either specifically visiting the museum or travelling the A9, thereby raising a further revenue stream to help sustain the entire operation;
• Encourage visitors to make donations, by having an imaginatively designed, bespoke donation box, to add to the sustainability of the operation;
• Establish a new, innovative and exciting weekly programme of heritage and social events at the OCS, during the high season, primarily for tourists seeking entertainment in the village during the evenings;
• Encourage more volunteers to join the existing pool, during the first season and beyond, with the raising of the OCS profile both to staff the Centre and also to become involved with CHS heritage projects;
• Create employment opportunities;
• Formalise partnerships prior to opening, including with the nearby Clynelish Distillery, who are undergoing their own £17m refurbishment and re-introduction of the Brora Distillery on the same site, and Dunrobin Castle;
• Encourage financial support from remote supporters, eg a 500 club, auctions for sponsored exhibits/displays.