Princess Anne officially opens Coll hall

on July 11th,2012

Princess Anne officially opens Coll's new £2.5million hall,An Cridhe,with members of the Development Coll social enterprise.

HER ROYAL Highness,Princess Anne,opened the Isle of Coll’s new £2.5million community hall,An Cridhe,this morning,describing the building as ‘hugely impressive’.

Nearly 200 people crammed into the main hall of the community hub to welcome the Princess Royal and officially celebrate the opening,for which the community has been working towards for years.

Congratulating the islanders for their efforts,the Princess Royal urged the community to enjoy the fruits of its labours.

She said:‘It’s a pleasure to be here. Some of you may or may not know I pass by Coll occasionally and we do come ashore occasionally. The last time I came past here it didn’t look like this.

‘It’s hugely impressive as a building and as a way of bringing more people to Coll. They can enjoy their time here even more than they did before. It is,above all though,a place for you to use. That’s the critical factor.

Her Royal Highness,Princess Anne,shares a joke with Coll Community Council chairman,Rob Wainwright,before buying a souvenir from one of the stalls at An Cridhe.

‘The potential that it gives you,your own groups,your own interests and anyone who comes here,is enormous. You’ve gone quite rightly for quality and long term investment. That’s as it should be.

‘You’ve got such good networks,the people and families that come from Coll always have the good memories and connections and they want to remake those and want to come back. That’s seen in this building and it’s given you the ability to have a building which is the best you can have.

‘It’s a real pleasure to see places like this to come into existence because I know how long it takes and how difficult it is. I can only say congratulations.

‘You can rest on your laurels for just a few days and enjoy that part of it –but after that just get in here and enjoy it. Everything hereafter you can truly enjoy because of the amount of effort you’ve put into it.

‘I hope you will all be thrilled to look back on what you have achieved – many congratulations. It’s a real pleasure to officially declare it open.’