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Growing Pains
Being on the doorstep of such an important area during Wartime, Alness, like others, saw an immense influx of people coming to the area, either to work or more commonly as part of the armed services. The Americans, Polish, Canadian, Norwegian and British, saw something special in the people and landscape of Easter Ross that some of them stayed, or came back to live in their retirement. Even prisoners of war liked it here!

The camps and bases began to fall silent and by 1946 a number of families were homeless and squatted in the abandoned nissen huts. It was an early warning of the following years of peace. In the short term, things looked bleak. The bad winter in 1946/47 and the energy crisis in 1947 caused many plans to be shelved. Evanton air base was closed temporarily to save fuel.

Village life continued in Alness, however. The famous community spirit began to be harnessed. The Alness & District Ratepayers Association was founded on 2nd October 1945 and set about improving the village's quality of life. The Objects set out in their constitution spoke of devising 'practical schemes for the improvement of the area's amenities' and ' To take part in the communal activities of charitable or social nature within the area'.

They bought the Crawl Park in 1947 from Dalmore Estate which, at that time, extended to approx 8 acres.

Ground leased from Ronald Mackenzie from Invergordon in the same year became the Riverside Park. A playing area where the Averon Centre now stands was bought at a later date. They made a further purchase of the terrace area of the Crawl Park in 1949. It should not be underestimated the work and achievements of the Ratepayers Association. A whole book could be written on these alone. At their AGM on 5th October 1954 Cllr Alex Ross cited the Ratepayers 'the leading and most progressive of its kind in the country.' The Secretary Alex Mackenzie could only agree in a report carried by the North Star, stating - 'There is no other association in this or any other country which puts in such consistant hard work in the public interest of commands better public support than we get in Alness'. The influx of families at that time (the census of 1961 showed a population of 1,040) necessitated a larger Bridgend Primary School. It was opened in April 27th 1962 by former pupil Major William Mackay, Senior Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at St Andrews University.

In the late 1950's the County Council made a number of attempts to attract new industries to the area, but only succeeded in the regeneration of an old industry - Whisky. A grain distillery for Invergordon was announced in 1959, a plan which went back to the mid fifties. It was the first large scale development in the Cromarty Firth in the 1960's and would quickly become the largest grain distillery in Europe and over 400 local jobs were created by it. On reflection, it was a very important step forward indeed.

It is almost inconceivable that with such optimism growing, a decision to close practically all the rail stations surrounding the firth, including Foulis, Evanton, Alness, Delny, Kildary and Nigg should even be thought about. In 1964 Dr Beeching proposed to go further and close the whole line north of Inverness. The Labour victory in 1964 was a crucial turning point for the area and Harold Wilson's famous phrase 'the white heat of technological revolution' could have been written with Easter Ross very much in mind.

A revolution for the Highlands arrived with the forming of the Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1965. Amongst it's thinking was the siting of large industrial complexes around Invergordon and the publication in 1968 of the Jack Holmes report had many implications for Easter Ross if the HIDB's vision were to be realised. They estimated a growth in population of between 250,000 and 300,000. Alness, Evanton and Muir of Ord were to expand to hold between sixteen and twenty-two thousand. The area would be linked by a motorway from Inverness to Invergordon.

Harold Wilson announced at the Labour Party Conference in 1967 that the government proposed to build two aluminium smelters by 1974. By the end of that year, plans were in hand for the development at Invergordon and in November 1967 planning permission was granted for the building of 500 council houses in Alness. There was some opposition to the smelter including Norway who claimed it was a violation of the European Free Trade Area agreement (EFTA) as well as the local views which became more and more polarised.

A planning inquiry on the re-zoning of land opened in Dingwall on 28th February 1968. The very viability of the plant was questioned with regard to the cost and sourcing of the energy to power the furnaces. The Energy Secretary, Peter Shore, seemed to give the impression that it would be nuclear powered. But Alcan announced that it had struck a deal with the National Coal Board for cheap coal and that, if they won the contract, they would build a coal fired generating station at Invergordon. Harold Wilson would not have been happy with that as it went against the government's commitment to nuclear power.

In July 1968 the House of Commons heard from Anthony Crosland, President of the Board of Trade who announced that British Aluminium had been chosen to build the Invergordon Smelter. Alcan had earlier decided to site their smelter in Northumberland. Serious doubts about the smelters viability continued as B.A. were to take its power from the nuclear powered Hunterston Electricity Generating Station in Ayrshire and critics claimed that the decision making process was dominated by political matters, rather than commercial ones.

Some 2,000 construction workers were drafted in and once again Easter Ross was providing full employment.The first production workers arrived in the area in 1970 as the first delivery of raw alumina arrived at the newly completed three quarter mile long pier that bordered Invergordon and Saltburn.

The large influx of people to a small village like Alness naturally came as a bit of a culture shock to some. The East Ross Working Group and B.A. went some way in combating this and in early 1971 produced local guides to the various clubs and societies in Alness in and in Easter Ross in general. The guide shows some 35 groups including the Alness Curling Club and the Rosskeen Young Wives and Mothers Group. A Transport Bulletin was also included giving times of bus and train services and even times of flights from Inverness Airport.

Earlier plans for an oil refinery, announced by Frank Thomson on August 1965 and other petrochemical industries came to nothing. There were others; Taylor-Woodrow proposed to build a concrete platform construction yard at Alness. In 1971 Brown and Root formed a new company, Highland Fabricators. Later that year M.K. Shand were given permission to build a pipe coating works at Saltburn. That autumn of that year, also, Hi Fab completed the purchase of the land for the Nigg development.

The building and staffing of the complex brought, once again. full employment to Ross and Cromarty. As with the smelter, the local workforce was not enough an yet more workers were drafted in from all over. Indeed, between 1970 - 73 the locally born had dropped by 7% to 60%. Alness residents born in the central belt rose by 157% and other incomers by 138%.

One result of this change was the welcome re-opening of Alness railway station in 1973. The smelter reached full production that year and in Alness, particularly, it brought the happy sound of cash registers. Everyone was enjoying this new prosperity. By 1974 that population of Alness was estimated at 4,060 and was expected to rise to about 6,800 by 1976. Depending on the demand for housing the figure could rise to anywhere between 7,800 and 13,500. Such a population would put some strain on the, already overcrowded, High Street prompting Ross and Cromarty County Council funded a Parking Study of Alness.

The re-organisation of local government in 1974 meant a new challenge. Up until that point the interests of Alness had been looked after by the Ratepayers Association (the Alness Community Association since 1969) and looked after very well. The ACA set up a sub committee to look at all aspects of community councils. After an interim report was presented in January 1975, the sub committee then met with representatives from Evanton, Invergordon, Saltburn, Kilmuir and Logie Easter and Tain to discuss the boundaries and other matters of interest. Proposals were put before a public meeting on 3rd February. The final document was presented to Ross and Cromarty District Council in March 1975. The Alness and District Community Council held its inaugural meeting in October 1977.

Growing Pains - Page Two