Forres Area Community Trust
Forres Online is our community digital support hub offering free, friendly help with devices, emails, online services and more—right at Forres Town Hall. Alongside this, the new Business Digital Development Hub supports local startups and young businesses with practical, expert guidance to grow online. Drop in every Tuesday, 2:00–4:00 pm, North Room, Forres Town Hall.
For more information on the events & workshops, please click the links below.
Free Digital Activites – Tuesday 2 – 4 pm
Where: North Room
Forres Community Council, Forres Area Community Trust, Forres Area Forum and
Community Sports Hub have prepared a proposed Local Place Plan (LPP) for the Forres
Community Council boundary area.
This LPP sets out the ways in which our community wants to see land developed and used
and a spatial vision for our town and has used information from consultations carried out
during the period 2023 – 2024 and is based on feedback received.
The LPP is a way of identifying and helping to deliver community projects and provides
information for other interested organisations. We hope that it will encourage more
collaborative working to enable a positive outcome for the continued improvement and
development of the Forres Community.
If you have comments on the proposed LPP please email them to info.fcc@gmail.com The
deadline for comments is 5pm Sunday 11 th May 2025.
FACT has joined up with Forres Heritage Trust and other interested organisations, groups, businesses and individuals to bring a package of heritage projects to Forres after securing £20K in funding from the UK Government through the UK Shared prosperity Fund.
The pilot initiative called Forres Connected-Culture and Heritage will bring a programme of activities including guided walks and tours, talks, traditional entertainment events, and tailor-made activity packages for day and longer stay visitors, to name but a few of the plans, from April to September 2024.
A new leaflet has also been produced which highlights just some of the exciting events taking place in Forres over the next few months and puts a spotlight on a map of the town’s many heritage landmarks.
The groups currently involved in the project are: Highland Youth Theatre, Leanchoil Trust, Findhorn Bay Arts, St John’s Church, Film Forres, Friends of the Falconer Museum, Forres Area Business Association, Forres Area Tourism Network, HA HA (Helen Avenell Heritage Associates) and individuals who are involved in local events such as the Forres Highland Games, Grant Park 100 and the British Pipe Band Championships and Forres Local.
The funding has also allowed us to create a Heritage Information Hub in Forres Town Hall. Opening times, Monday to Friday from 10am to 3pm.
For further information on the various activities and developments or how to get involved please go to the Forres Connected-Culture and Heritage Facebook Page, alternatively email us at info@forresarea.org or pop in to speak to one of our lovely Volunteers at the Heritage Information Hub.
FACT will be holding its Annual General Meeting and 10th Birthday Celebration on Friday, 26th November 2021 at 5.30pm. Members and supporters are invited to join us for the meeting and celebration in Forres Town Hall.
For full information and documents please click the the link AGM Info or contact our reception office 01309 674388 or email info@forresarea.org
by David MacKay, Press & Journal
A community group has submitted a bid to take over a cherished Moray landmark and bring it back to life.
Today is the first anniversary of Forres Area Community Trust (Fact) signing a lease to prevent the local town hall closing.
Now the charity is aiming to take over the ownership of the Victorian building, which has been a gathering point for generations, as well.
Today new art gallery will be opened in the hall during a party to celebrate the landmark, which dates back to the 1850s.
Annual Hogmanay bashes have been revived at the hall for the first time since the 1960s and the town centre venue is also now fully booked for Saturday coffee mornings until the end of next year.
Debbie Herron, Fact’s development manager, wants to preserve the building’s strong links with the community.
She said: “During the last year we’ve had a few people come in who have met their husbands and wives here – it used to be very popular with a lot of evening dances.
“The social history of the building is really important. We knew it was important to the community but I didn’t realise how much until this year.”
Forres Town Hall faced closure with similar venues last year due to budget cuts from Moray Council. Fact has applied to the authority for ownership of the hall to be transferred to them.
Meetings have been set up between Fact, other groups who have taken on their own community facilities and council staff so they can learn from what each other is doing.
The group has drawn up plans for a £1.9million refurbishment of the Forres hall to build on the success of film screenings in the venue with tiered seating and more gallery and office space.
Mrs Herron added: “The biggest challenge for us at the moment is the condition of the building.
“It’s nearly 200 years old now. The roof leaks in places, it’s safe but it’s just another thing that needs repaired.
“Ultimately we want to completely refurbish the entire hall over the next five years. It doesn’t make best use of space at the moment so there’s a lot of untapped potential.”
The celebration at Forres Town Hall today will run from 4pm to 6pm with regular users of the venue present to provide information about what they do.
