Community hub organises Fort William Christmas market

New Connections is a community branch of the charity Lochaber Hope and provides a warm hub in the centre of Fort William which is open to all.

The team put out a call to locals interested in running their own market stall and were overwhelmed by the demand they received.

There will be 25 stalls on the evening offering face painting, hot chocolate, gifts from local distilleries, home-made wreaths, Christmas decorations and more.

Sian McWalter, Project Worker at New Connections, was determined to get young people involved in the Christmas market and two stalls will be run by pupils from Lochaber High School, who are keen to show off their entrepreneurial skills.

Lochaber Hope also runs the local youth programme, BrightMinds, and organisers of the market ran an initiative encouraging young people to send in applications to man a special stall. Sign-ups were open to under-20s with the ambition to sell their own handmade goods.

Sian said: “There’s so many young people around here that don’t have many opportunities, so I wanted to invite them into a new space. A craft market can be a space that they don’t usually access, but it is absolutely a space for everyone!"