Ardersier residents raise funds to save 1880 parish church

Villagers in Ardersier are raising money to buy their parish church, which the Church of Scotland has put up for sale as it reduces its property estate. They hope to keep the 1880 building in community hands, preserving a place associated with generations of local events and memories.

The church is listed for offers over £80,000, and the fundraising campaign’s first aim is to pay for a surveyor and solicitor because the building is in poor repair. The former fishing village has about 1,500 residents; its church also hosted Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford’s wedding on 31 December 1997, attended by around 100 villagers.