ATC

Today went to plan. I don’t say that often.
We were working up the hill in Fort William. Part of the exercise involved me having to check out the position of an overgrown stockpile close to the Adult Training Centre which sits in its own grounds at the top of the town. I wandered up the road expecting the roof of the ATC to come in to site and oddly I could see the houses beyond it. I was surely misjudging the depth of the hollow the building sat in. I got closer to a position where I could look in on the building and it was gone; demolished and just a brown field site. My specific interest in the building was due to me working there labouring in student times.
We laid drains, strip foundations, floor slabs, kerbing and other ground works. There was also a large reinforced concrete, part underground, canoe store under one wing of the building too. The company wasn’t big on mechanical assistance. Cement was delivered in 50 kilo (8 stone bags) and off loaded by hand. Other than high quality structural concrete much was batched by old fashioned mixer and barrowed to point of use. Each shift, for me, was hard physical work and it didn’t occur to me till today that I must have had some pride in being a small part in the making of what was a useful building in the community. All that sweat and now it’s gone.
Obviously some rationalising of services has seen the facility become surplus to requirements but it is hard to believe that this relatively new building was deemed ready for demolition. If you go to the end of Angus Crescent, Fort William in Google Earth it is still there. You will gather the brown field site was a potential blip.
I was home before dark and Caley looked ready for another walk. We went up the slopes of Meall nan Luath and took some photos of the skyline all around as the last light disappeared. It was dark because on the last and most elevated set up I couldn’t find my rucksack two yards away without the torch. The walk back down the hill over rough tussocky ground was interesting as it started snowing. It is extremely disorientating walking in to snow with a head torch on.
This is the Grey Corries from Meall nan Luath. An image at the former ATC site would have been quite depressing.