Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Share scheme to open for ‘life-changing’ £3 million Oban centre

The Rockfield Centre is being redeveloped as a community hub
The Rockfield Centre is being redeveloped as a community hub

Work is expected to start later this year to convert a former Victorian primary school in Oban into a “life-changing” £3 million centre for the local community.

The former Rockfield primary school, a grade B-listed structure, will be transformed into a space for groups working in arts and culture, history and heritage, health and wellbeing, as well as for exhibitions, music gigs and business workshops.

Oban Communities Trust, which owns the 1870s building, is now seeking tenders for the renovation project and aims to have it open for use by early 2020.

And the Trust is opening a scheme on June 16 for residents to buy shares in the future Rockfield Centre at £50 each, with a minimum £250 investment, to help raise the £500,000 to meet the overall project cost.

Trust chairman Gordon McNab said: “People can buy into the project and invest in the future of the centre. It will be a place for people to meet, to create and be creative, to learn, to have fun.

“There is nowhere in Oban where people can just come and meet, have fun and a laugh and talk to one another. It will be a centre for the community.

“This is going to be a life-changing project – something for kids, for everyone. It will be one of the best things that has ever happened to Oban.”

The Trust bought the 17-room building from Argyll and Bute Council in 2015 for £1,000 following a campaign to save it from being demolished.

Mr McNab said more than £2 million has already been pledged towards the revamp of the old school through a variety of grants and donations over the past year.

Two former classroom huts at the site have already been refurbished and are being used by various community groups. Existing clubs which will benefit from the new facility include a children’s Lego club, yoga classses, a sewing group and a camera club.

Language classes, creative workshops and writing sessions will also be based there.

Mr McNab said the Rockfield Centre will also encourage tourists to stay and spend more money in Oban, with the prospect of activities such as future art exhibitions and music gigs.

He added: “Work will hopefully start at the end of the year and it will take 12 months to build it into something fantastic for years to come.”

For more information on the community shares scheme, which is open until July 31, visit the Rockfield Centre community huts or contact Caroline Boswell on caroline@therockfieldcentre.org.uk or call 07483 308 142.