In pictures: Eigg's new community hub opened

BBC
·2 min read
An Laimhrig community hub
An Laimhrig has been redeveloped over the course of more than 10 years [Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust]

Residents of Eigg are celebrating the official opening of their revamped community and visitor hub.

Redevelopment of An Laimhrig has taken more than 10 years, and some of the phases of construction were disrupted by the Covid pandemic.

The centre now has a larger grocery shop, bigger café and bar, a craft shop and a base for an adventure activities business.

Other new features include an old farm building which has been turned into office and workshop space for local businesses and coastguard volunteers.

Islanders on Eigg
Some of the islanders who braved the rain on Monday to mark the official opening [Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust]

The redevelopment has seen the installation of a biomass heating system and the building of public toilets, showers and laundry facilities.

An Laimhrig - Gaelic for "safe harbour" - is located at the island's ferry pier.

Eigg in the Small Isles is home to about 100 people and the island has been in community ownership since 1997.

It was the first Scottish island to be bought over by its residents.

New hub An Laimhrig
The hub has a shop and a café [Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust ]
New hub An Laimhrig
Offices and a workshop have been made available to businesses and the coastguard [Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust]

Redevelopment involved local small businesses and contractors and was led by Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust.

Development manager Rebecca Long said the trust was fortunate to work with "strong partners" to deliver the project.

She said: "None of us underestimated the challenges of delivering such a significant project on a remote island like Eigg.

"Everybody understood the vision of employing as many local people as possible, ensuring as much of the project’s funding stayed on the island as possible.

"A concept that is core to the Trust’s vision of community wealth building."

Eigg
Eigg is one of the Small Isles [Getty Images]

Monday's official opening involved Peggy Kirk, 92, who has lived on Eigg for more than 60 years, and Edith Merrick, who is nine months old and is one of the newest arrivals on the island.

The Scottish government and National Lottery Community Fund provided funding for the project.

Celebrations on Eigg marking its community buyout
Eigg was taken over by its community in 1997 [Getty Images]

More on this story

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • 'I don't think that's wise': Video captures herd of bison charging tourists in Yellowstone

    In case you needed a visual reminder of why you are supposed to keep at least a 25-yard distance from bison and other national park wildlife.

  • Grey-headed chickadee listed as endangered in May

    The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) updated the status of twelve Canadian animals this month, and it included the Grey-headed Chickadee among the animals newly considered "endangered."Dr. Louise Blight is the co-chair of the COSEWIC advisory committee on birds. She said Grey-headed Chickadees live at the edge of the treeline in the Pacific Northwest, and were historically common near Old Crow. The bird is so rare that it is hard to estimate its population, she

  • 'Ozzy Osbourne' no match for stubborn Colorado bear in neighborhood tree

    Wildlife officials said the bear had gotten in the trash and found food. When the rangers arrived, the bear was already in a tree.

  • 4 downy chicks born to Moncton pair of rooftop peregrine falcons

    Moncton has welcomed some new feathery friends. Two peregrine falcons that have been living in a nesting box atop the Assumption Building in the city for the last 13 years have just hatched four chicks. Earlier this year, the Magnetic Hill Zoo and Nature Moncton partnered to set up a livestream on the pair's nesting box, so viewers waited anxiously for about a month, closely watching the eggs. Jill Marvin, the director of the Magnetic Hill Zoo, said she first noticed something unusual when she c

  • Botanists are scouring the US-Mexico border to document a forgotten ecosystem split by a giant wall

    JACUMÉ, México (AP) — Near the towering border wall flanked by a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle, botanist Sula Vanderplank heard a quail in the scrub yelp “chi-ca-go,” a sound the birds use to signal they are separated from a mate or group. Vanderplank was among several botanists and citizen scientists participating in the Border Bioblitz near the Mexican community of Jacumé, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Tijuana. On a recent day, Bioblitz volunteers scrutinized a bright yellow blooming carpet of common Goldfields, a sharp contrast to the imposing steel bollards of the border wall topped with rolls of razor wire.

  • Roaming Black Bear Amazes Residents of Michigan Beach Town

    A black bear was seen wandering the streets of Ludington, Michigan, on Thursday, May 16, before police said it returned to its natural habitat.Footage recorded by Trinja Henrickson shows the bear as residents of the beach town look on in amazement.Henrickson told Storyful she was heading to work when she heard about the bear on the loose, and stopped to look for it when she happened to spot it coming down an alleyway.The animal was first reported more than a mile away.The Ludington Police Department said on Thursday that the bear had “safely returned to its natural habitat.” Credit: Trinja Henrickson via Storyful

  • Sask. RCMP kill bear in Lumsden after attempts to capture it fail

    Saskatchewan RCMP say their officers killed a bear that made its way into Lumsden on Thursday, after attempts to trap and relocate it, with the help of conservation officers, were unsuccessful. An RCMP spokesperson said the police force first became aware of the bear being inside town limits on Wednesday.On Thursday evening, RCMP got a report the bear was in a tree in what they described as "a high-traffic residential area."Officers determined here was "an imminent safety risk," and the animal w

  • Thousands of trees planted for new woodland

    Thousands of saplings have been planted in the first season of a three- year project for a new wood.

  • A Single Herd of Bison Can Help Capture CO2 From Over 40,000 Cars, Scientists Find

    Bison-tennial In 2014, a rewilding project reintroduced European bison into the foothills of the Tarcu mountains in Romania, where they hadn't been seen for over two centuries. Now, a decade later, we're beginning to observe the remarkable ways this has transformed the region's ecology — offering a glimmer of hope in our efforts to combat […]

  • B.C. researchers study how orcas breathe

    Imagine breathing in, heading out the door, grabbing some food and coming home – all before taking another breath. That's exactly what orcas do, according to Beth Volpov, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia's Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. She's the co-author of new research into the breathing habits of the endangered whale. By tracking 11 orcas, a team of UBC researchers confirmed that the marine mammals take one breath each time they surface between di

  • Zoo announces birth of rare tamarin monkey

    The critically endangered primate was born at Marwell Zoo to parents Mico and Gurt.

  • Volunteers tackle invasive species at beauty spot

    Himalayan Balsam is crowding out native flora in St Anne's Wood that could lead to a monoculture.

  • Video shows bull attack tourist who was feeding the animal on a Mexico beach

    Video shows a woman being attacked while on the beach in Los Cabos, Mexico. The tourist was seen giving the bull food.

  • The last pandas at any US zoo are expected to leave Atlanta for China this fall

    Zoo Atlanta is making preparations to return panda parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang to China along with their American-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, zoo officials said Friday. The four Atlanta pandas have been the last in the United States since the National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China last November. Other American zoos have sent pandas back to China as loan agreements lapsed amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two nations.

  • A push to bring wolverines back to California fizzles amid budget woes

    A bill that sought to bring the wolverine, a rugged apex predator, back to California has died in the California Legislature. Backers say they're not giving up, however.

  • Relief greets federal order to fix benzene leaks after plastics plant pollution

    OTTAWA — Feelings of hope and relief flooded Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia, Ont., on Friday after the federal government moved to enforce tougher air quality standards at a styrene plant that has been emitting dangerous levels of benzene for years. "We're optimistic," said Cathleen O'Brien, the environmental co-ordinator for Aamjiwnaang, an Anishinaabe community in the middle of what is known as Canada's Chemical Valley. "For many people it's been a lifetime of concern." More than 40 per ce

  • 75 Endangered and Extremely Rare Snakes Released into Kisatchie National Forest by Fort Worth Zoo

    The Fort Worth Zoo has released a total of 229 Louisiana pine snakes into the wild in recent years

  • Gorilla Treated with World's First 3D-Printed Titanium Cast Is Doing Well at Cincinnati Zoo: 'Healing Is Happening'

    11-year-old Gladys broke her arm in April during "a scuffle" with two of her siblings, the zoo said

  • US Company Becomes World’s Most Valuable Solar Firm After Chinese Rivals Slip

    (Bloomberg) -- A US company has become the world’s most valuable solar manufacturer for the first time since 2018, as Chinese rivals suffer from a profit-slashing price war and an onslaught of trade barriers erected by Washington.Most Read from BloombergGantz Says He’ll Quit Unless Netanyahu Moves to New War PlanChina-Bound Oil Tanker Hit by Houthi Missile in Red Sea, US SaysA 25-Year-Old BofA Trader Dies Suddenly at Industry OutingSingapore Monitoring New Covid Wave as Infections RiseFirst Sola

  • More than a thousand fish die in pollution incident

    Hundreds of brown trout are confirmed killed, with anglers fearing salmon were also affected.