We were delighted to welcome our key funders, contractors and supporters to the Richmond Building to thank them for the pivotal support to bring the aspirations of the village to pass.


This was a ‘Thank You Event’ and the Trust was keen to show their appreciation for the support throughout 2023 during phase 1 of The Richmond Building Redevelopment, and we were delighted that some of our key partners, our funders, our architect, our main contractors and suppliers were all here so that we could thank them in person and celebrate.


Portgordon Community Trust is a registered charity, and we were delighted to welcome our charities Patron, Mr Andrew Simpson, the Lord-Lieutenant of Banffshire.


And finally, but by no means least, we were also delighted that our elected politicians Douglas Ross MP/MSP, Richard Lochhead MSP and Councillor Marc Macrae from Moray Council found the time in their busy schedules to come along .


For many years the community run a resource centre across the road in the square in the original Lampie Hoose. This building served the community well, but space was limited and the facilities were poor and costs were rising, and so the lease on the building was relinquished during the height of the pandemic.


Through a Planning for Real exercise in 2017 supported by the Council, and further community consultation supported by tsiMORAY in early 2020, the community expressed a wish to have a new hub and community café, and thoughts turned to the Richmond Arms building.


We initially leased this building and the cottage next door for a short period from the previous owners, CES as part of our ongoing MoU with the Crown in which we are exploring the future of the harbour and the surrounding area.


While we were leasing the buildings from the Crown the opportunity arose to bid for funding to actually purchase the building, and we were delighted when The Scottish Land Fund agreed to provide us with grant funding from the Scottish Government, delivered through HIE and the National Lottery Community Fund. The building was finally purchased in February last year.


Designs were drawn up and Planning Permission awarded, and Phase 1 of the proposed redevelopment was carried out between January and April last year.

We are really grateful to our initial consultants and to our architect for helping us navigate the business plan, the planning application and the project management.


We are of course extremely grateful for all the grant funding, Beatrice Offshore initially with the business planning, and then a range of funders for the actual works, including predominately Scottish Government through Scottish Land Fund and Highlands & Islands Enterprise for the major works, but also Moray Local Action Group for funding the windows and doors, Moray Council for funding fire extinguishers and carpets, and to the Adam Family Foundation for supporting the purchase of kitchen equipment for the new Lampie Hoose Café.


A big thank you to our architects, CM Design and our main contractor KT Joinery, and their sub contractors for all the work they carried out. It’s certainly not easy refurbishing old buildings, and we certainly faced some challenges along the way, and Trust members have certainly learned a lot that will help us in future phases, so we are grateful to Kevin and his team for his support and advice throughout the project.


Also like to mention our local plumber, Colin Symon, who refurbished our toilets and continues to provide us with a lot of help and advice, to Zafar Ali for the carpet fitting, to Ryan at North East Windows and Doors, and Crown Estate Scotland for the heating system.


Finally, we thanked thank all our Board members and volunteers who have also helped with the refurbishment, including some of the decorating, the minor repairs, furniture supply and installation and of course a big shout out to all the volunteers in the Lampie Hoose Café.​

Finally we marked the retirement of one of our long standing volunteers, Colin Hannover and his wife Karen. Colin has been pivotal in the formation of the Trust, served on the committees of not only the Trust, but also the Village Hall, the Portgordon Post and the former Portgordon Community Harbour Group, not only as a volunteer but also as Chair, Vice-Chair, Master of Ceremonies at village events, handy man and general all rounder. His wife Karen, not only a support to him but equal in her support to the Village. Lucky for us, they are still around and willing to continue helping alongside their own hobbies and family life.

We were delighted that our Patron was here to present him with a token of our appreciation and heartfelt thanks for his service to the community.