Historic School Reborn as Outdoor Activity Centre
There is growing excitement surrounding a former primary school in southern Scotland that was declared surplus nearly ten years ago. The notable granite structure has been a prominent feature of Dalbeattie for 150 years.
However, the school closed in 2017 when pupils transferred to the town's new learning campus, leaving the building's future uncertain.
An £8 million redevelopment has now converted the site into an outdoor sports and activity centre, featuring a £722,000 pump track set to host a world championship qualifying event next month.
The initiative, named Rocks and Wheels, has been in development for nine years.
Community-Led Vision for Future Growth
Michelle McRobert, chief executive of the Dalbeattie Community Initiative which manages the project, explained that the concept emerged after extensive community consultation to identify what the area needed to thrive in the future.
Where children once learned their times tables, the centre now includes a 52-bed bunkhouse, a 100-seat café, an indoor bouldering facility, the pump track, and community rooms available for hire.
"That will all become live over the next six months and we'll build up,"said Michelle.
"We'll start doing events and then we'll be open every day, seven days a week, hopefully 10:00 until 22:00."
Supported by a diverse range of funding sources from numerous groups and individuals, Michelle stated the project aims to "future-proof the building" for generations to come.
"In the last three to four years, it was getting into a state where the building would maybe have not survived,"she said.
"Nobody else was interested in doing anything with the building, like many schools across the region. If we hadn't taken it on under community asset transfer, I'm unsure of what would have happened to the big buildings."
Upcoming Pump Track World Championship Qualifiers
A major highlight is the pump track world championships qualifiers scheduled for 14 June. Winners in the junior categories will advance to compete in Sweden, while adult winners will proceed to China.
Maria Rawlings, Rocks and Wheels project co-ordinator, expressed enthusiasm about the event.
"We hope that this is just a starting point to see what natural talent we have in Dalbeattie once they start using the track. We're really excited to be hosting the world championships qualifiers."
The event is expected to raise awareness of the facility and the sport.
"I think people are still trying to understand what a pump track is all about,"said Maria.
"It doesn't matter what you show on paper, on videos - I think to actually watch it live is quite an impressive sport to watch. We're thinking that this is just the starting point for what we're going to have for the future. We don't know what hidden talent we've got here, and if we are successful enough to have somebody win to go to Sweden, that will just be amazing."
Local Riders Embrace the New Facility
Among the competitors will be 13-year-old Ollie Stewart from nearby Crocketford, who is thrilled to have the track close to home.
"It's really good because I can ride from my house to it in the summer,"Ollie said.
"It's good and it'll bring people together to ride bikes and have fun. It's very good because you can take it easy and go slow or you can go flat out as fast as you can and you can get in the air and hit jumps - it's really good."
Eleven-year-old Samuel Dickie, who lives just outside Dalbeattie, is an avid cyclist who participates in events nationwide. Entered for the qualifiers, he enjoys downhill, enduro, and cyclocross disciplines but finds road cycling "boring."
"I like it because you can get speed and do doubles (jumps) and stuff,"Samuel said.
"It can be dangerous, but if you do it right, it's fine."
He also hopes the track will benefit the local economy.
"I think it'll bring a lot of income to the town,"he said,
"and Dalbeattie will be famous again."
