PICTURES: New North Coast Visitor Centre gears up for opening day
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A new visitor centre is set to open next week nearly three years after the defunct Caithness Horizons closed its doors for the final time.
And the John O'Groat Journal, sister paper to the Northern Times, was given exclusive access to see inside the new North Coast Visitor Centre ahead of its public opening on Tuesday.
John West, the director of culture and leisure at High Life Highland (HLH), which has taken over the running of the Thurso facility, said it will be "a precious and unique Caithness resource" and one "people should be proud of".
Mr West stressed the centre will be "a community facility".
"It will not be simply a museum but a place which will be used for activities and used all year round," he said. "Hopefully, it will encourage people to come here and visitors to spend more time in Thurso, engage with the community and find out about the heritage and history of the place."
But, despite being an attraction on the popular North Coast 500 tourist route, it will not survive without the support of locals, Mr West insisted. He pointed out the facility will only be viable if it is used by the local community and "they will only use it if we give them good reason to come here".
To try to ensure that happens, Mr West said there will be a regular programme of events and activities to appeal to a range of age groups and interests, as well as spaces for community groups plus opportunities for skill-sharing events, talks and socialising.
"We have a fantastic café here and one of the best galleries in the Highlands," said Mr West, who explained that HLH is working with other local bodies to try to ensure the success of the centre. He stressed there will be no entry charges, although donations will be welcomed.
Caithness Horizons museum and gallery closed in February 2019 due to "financial and sustainability issues", but received a £200,000 investment from Highland Council for vital work to the fabric of the building.
That included the replacement of the heating system, new boilers and repairs to the ventilation and mobility lift. Extensive repairs on the roof have also been undertaken.
The local authority and Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) each agreed to give revenue funding of £75,000 a year for an initial three-year period to support the High Street facility.
Mr West said regular meetings will take place with the funders and there will be an annual review carried out to assess how the centre is doing and "ongoing discussions" about the viability of the facility. Both bodies have been "extremely supportive," he said.
"We have to get people through the doors and using the café and shop and making donations to help with the running of the centre.
"We are also exploring the possibility of attracting additional funding. The building will continue to be owned by Highland Council, which has done a brilliant job in carrying out repairs and looking after the premises.
"We will be operating a tried-and-tested model here and one which has worked elsewhere for High Life Highland," he said.
There will be nine staff employed at the centre, with network librarian Susan Taylor in overall charge.
"It was sole-destroying to see the building close nearly three years ago and everybody wanted to pull together to get it re-opened," Mr West said.
Asked about the decision to open in November, after the tourist season has ended, Mr West replied: "We opened as soon as we could. This is the earliest we could open because of the coronavirus pandemic." He also pointed out there was a lot of work to carry out on the building.
"This will be a precious and unique Caithness resource and something people should be proud of. The best way to support us is to come in and visit," he insisted.
"People may not see huge changes but there has been a lot of work carried out on the building. We will be having a soft launch next week with a civic launch in due course, and hopefully this side of Christmas," added Mr West.
The relaunched centre tells the story of Caithness from 416 million years ago to the advent of nuclear power at Dounreay, with models of reactors and a display of remote handling equipment.
It also has a café, museum and art gallery which will, initially, feature the work of local artist, William B Wallace.
