Fios report

Sporsnis Reaches the Finishing Line

With work having recommenced on the Sporsnis project it seems completion is not too far away. At a committee meeting last Monday night it was agreed to hold a public meeting to raise awareness in the community again, now that things are reaching a climax.














It is nearly 12 years since the first public meeting about the proposed Sport’s Centre took place, and now the £2M building should be finished by May, according to Gordon Anderson, Project Manager, who attended the meeting and gave a progress report to those present.

The building features a range of facilities including a cavernous sports hall which could also be used for a variety of functions such as conferences and social events. There is a large sauna, shower, toilet and changing area, which no doubt will prove popular, particularly in the winter months! The state of the art fitness suite will accommodate all ages and will be equipped with cycling machines, treadmills, multigym and a concept rower.

In this day and age, when the watchwords seem to be ‘global warming’, this impressive building boasts £200,000 worth of renewables in the shape of two wind turbines on Lionel machair behind the school and a ground source heat exchanger. With these in place it is hoped that the building’s heating system will be totally self sufficient.

Speaking to Fios, Chairman Calum Iain Macleod said: ‘Work is progressing well at the Sporsnis centre with completion expected in May and the centre opening shortly afterwards. It is a really exciting time and it is hard to believe that, after 12 years of hard work by both the Sporsnis committee and the community that the finishing line is now in sight. The sporsnis committee still has a great deal of work to do prior to the opening of the centre and we hope people turn out on Friday to show their support and also that we get some new blood on to the organising committee. It is acknowledged that different skills will be required in running the centre to the skills required in getting the building completed and I sincerely hope that people with the necessary skills are happy to volunteer their time. We have been delighted with the support we have had from the community over the years and trust that this support continues. Then committee are extremely grateful too for the many monetary donations that have been made.

This is the last push to get the building open and we would stress that funds are still required and more fundraising events will be organised to raise the money to buy the finishing touches such as chairs tables and crockery. We are also extremely thankful to all our funders for their support and their patience, in particular, Members and officers of both Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and HIE Innse Gall.’

This has probably been the biggest and most complex capital project to come to Ness, and the dedication and determination of the committee, and the commitment of the community to achieving this is to be applauded. No long hike over the Barvas Moor now, and no excuse either not to get fit!

To facilitate more fundraising the website www.sporsnis.co.uk has been redesigned by Helen Alexander to allow donations to be made online.

a public meeting - 2nd March 2007

Things are looking up for the completion of the spòrsnis structure. After last night's meeting with the project manager we hear that work could be completed in the middle of this year. As many will know with any building project like this there are often things to juggle with hold ups from small to large. This makes forcasting a completion date some thing a kin to "don't count you're chickens..." but we're definately getting there bit by bit.

A full update will be available at the public meeting to be held on the 2nd of March (2007). This will be in Lionel School at 7.30pm so please come along and support it. Making this a priority will help refresh the project's momentum and support the existing work as it continues towards completion.

It is of course vital we make a move to generate income for the equipment and furnishings now and we are looking for input from everyone so we can have the centre up and running as soon as possible.

See you there...

Spòrsnis team

There are many contributors to the team work which makes such a project as spòrsnis happen in a community. I'm just writting as one who has set up the webpage and this news blog. This should be useful and interesting way of keeping you up to date and well informed about the progress of the scheme so I've sent out some invites to team members to open up the ability to post here on this news page. It's great to see Calum Iain has signed up - he's our chairman so keeps his finger on the pulse of all things spòrsnis, but there are many more still to come (though it is appreciated that some who provide vital support may not wish to do the "web thing").

There are quite a few email addresses that I am short of, so please, if you are involved in the development of spòrsnis and would like to post here but haven't received an invite, let me know by dropping me a line at sporsnis@sporsnis.co.uk and giving me your email address so that I can add you.