A royal seal of approval for Lewis community hub

The hub is home to a shop and café, Point and Sandwick Trust, dedicated museum and exhibition space for Comann Eachdraidh An Rubha, archive and storage facilities for the community paper, the Rudhach, a meeting room and hotdesking facilities.

The building is run almost entirely on renewables, using smart management of energy, solar panels, air source heat pump, battery storage and insulation to radically reduced dependence on the grid.

Aros an Rubha has been undergoing further development this summer with the addition of extended parking, office space and a community launderette.

The Princess Royal first travelled to Lewis in August 1956 as a five-year old on the Royal Yacht Brittania and enjoyed a family visit to Tiumpanhead Lighthouse in Point, sparking a well-documented love and admiration for lighthouses.

In a nod to that first visit, the Princess Royal was presented with a painting of Tiumpanhead Lighthouse by local artist Margaret Maclean as part of her visit to Aros an Rubha. She was also able to see an impressive montage of archive photographs from that first visit to Point.

Catriona Dunn of Urras Stòras an Rubha, said: “It was an honour for us to have the official opening of Aros an Rubha conducted by HRH the Princess Royal.

“It is also very satisfying to see that Aros An Rubha has quickly become the vibrant community hub we envisaged in the far-off days when we first met in February 2011, months before the closure of Knock School, to work towards ensuring the school building would pass into community ownership.

“The facilities of Aros An Rubha are now well-used by the people of Point, and as the comments in the visitors’ book for the Air a’ Mhointich exhibition testify, Aros An Rubha has attracted visitors from as far afield as Australia, Manitoba and Tolsta Chaolais.

“Additional areas for public use will shortly include a launderette, and the reopening of the popular pre-loved bookstall.

“Our vision was to create a hub that would provide facilities for the community, would promote activities to encourage the economy of Point, and offer a key resource in terms of the environment, culture and heritage of the area.”

DJ MacSween, of Point and Sandwick Trust added: “We are so pleased to have been involved in the welcome of HRH The Princess Royal to Point.

“During her visit, we spoke of the impact of the community hub and the role we had in its restoration. PST is the anchor tenant at Aros an Rubha and invested more than £800,000 in the repurposing of the old school buildings.

“The fact that this has been made possible by the income generated by our wholly community-owned wind farm is a source of joy, and we were pleased to give HRH some insight into the vision behind our work at PST.

“This included the planting of more than 200,000 native trees in the Western Isles via our Croft Woodlands Project and the energy support of over £250,000 we have delivered to those in fuel poverty in our community”.

Despite the rain, members of the community gathered at Aros An Rubha to wave in the Princess, cheering her arrival at the hub in Knock.