Year of publication 1990 - Fell and Rock Climbing Club

12 THE GREAT CHASEThe Oban Times tor Thursday, 15th December. 1988. arrived at theoffice in its usual paper wrapper. There was a cottage (unmodcrnised) atLochyside by Fort William comprising two rooms and scullery on theground floor and two bedrooms and bathroom on upper floor with avery large outbuilding formerly a hay shed. Region £28,000 - closingdate for offers noon January 11th. This property was being sold by ourown agents and a call to them elicited that they expected the property to"sell well" and that the final price would be in excess of £28.000 (in theevent it was £36,000).A little further down the property adverts. I saw "Old Police Station,Kinlochleven". This property appeared to be a bungalow and a largedetached outbuilding. The bungalow required extensive refurbishmentalthough the outbuilding was in generally good repair. Formal offers inexcess of £14,000 were invited. I carried on reading down the column ofproperties. At that time one could not buy a semi-detached run-downdog kennel in north-west Scotland at £14,000 or anywhere near it. Iformed a visual impression of the extensive refurbishment including therebuilding of most of the major walls, together with the construction of aroof, before anything else could be done. I thought nothing more of it.I used to ring Cynthia Grindley up from time to time to see if she wasaware of any properties that might be coming for sale in the area. Infact, 1 hadn't rung Cynthia recently at all. "How are you Cynthia -alright?" Her professional position as district nurse in the Glencoe areadoes, of course, give her a certain intuitive understanding as to whichparticular properties may be coming up for sale in the not too distantfuture. I will say nothing more. Cynthia did remark that anotherclimbing club had been making enquiries about the Old Police Station atKinlochleven. "What was it like?" I asked. "Not so bad really" was thereply. "I think you should look into it." My next call was immediately toPeter Weir in Glencoe for further information. He believed that theproperty had been empty for two years, but that it was in quitereasonable condition. I asked about the detached modern building andwas told that this, in fact, had been the proposed nerve-centre for theadministration of north-west Scotland in the event of a nuclear attack asit was a steel-reinforced concrete bunker without windows, butcontaining all necessary facilities. I made arrangements with Peter thathe would speak to a local builder and arrange a meeting at the propertythat very weekend. David Miller was, by this time, our President and onthat evening I telephoned him and he now takes up his part of thestory . . .