BE PART OF IT
With the support of the people of the Forres area and our funders, the Leanchoil Trust is working to bring this amazing property back into service for the community.
Leanchoil’s Community
Leanchoil is special and over time built its own community. In the words of Sonia Palmer, a nurse at Leanchoil from1996 to 2013:
“Leanchoil was a family. It was a place of laughter and tears and a beautiful place to work in. Leanchoil wasn’t just a building it was a family; a family of nurses a family of people working together.”
We want to recreate this by building a new Leanchoil community with you. Watch our film about past times at Leanchoil on the Heritage page.
Our Community
The Forres area community is the most diverse in Moray. People from across the UK have settled here, yet the town and surrounding areas retain a distinctly Scottish character. Many of those who have chosen to make the area their home are former service personnel, who have discovered the area’s benefits during postings to Moray’s two military bases, Kinloss and Lossiemouth. 12.5% of the population of Forres are veterans which is the highest in Scotland.
This shows the boundary of the Forres Area Schools Group (ASG) which the Trust uses to define its catchment area for the Leanchoil project. Map courtesy of Moray Council.
A Caring Community Circle event getting people dancing!
Our Community
This area’s diversity has enabled community organisations to flourish, with many now delivering activities and services formerly the responsibility of public services. Some of these community groups have strengthened their positions by acquiring buildings through Community Asset Transfers (CAT), as Leanchoil Trust will do from NHS Grampian.
Like many areas there is an ageing population due in part to young people seeking careers in the cities. This brings challenges for health and care support and Leanchoil can play an important part in helping to meet these challenges in the future. It will be a place where people can socialise, exercise, and take part in activities to improve their wellbeing, hopefully reducing the demand on NHS frontline services.
Forres Health Care Centre, NHS Grampian’s main GP and health service location in the Forres ASG.
New housing in Forres
We plan that there will also be fun things for younger people such as the immersive studio and STEM rooms. We want Leanchoil to be an inclusive place where people of all ages come together.
Appropriate and affordable housing continues to be an issue for many in the area, so Leanchoil Trust is working with Hanover Scotland to build 38 units of supported accommodation on the site to help meet this demand.
Forres already has a strong community spirit; working together we can create a new dawn for Leanchoil.