Gymnastics club fears losing base it rents from BT

A Highland gymnastics club says it is at risk of losing its training base due to the cost of taking over the building it currently rents.

Alness's Fyrish Gymnastics coaches more than 700 young people each week and supports 10 jobs.

Telecoms giant BT owns the building next to an office it has closed as part of UK-wide cuts.

It said it had offered Fyrish Gymnastics the lease of the property until 2028 and also the chance to buy it, but the club said the original purchase price had doubled to £400,000.

Fyrish Gymnastics had an opportunity to buy the building last year, but did not have funding in place to proceed with the deal.

The club's Val Houston said members have been fundraising and national body Sportscotland has been approached for grant support.

She told BBC Naidheachdan: "We knew last year the building would probably go on the market because we couldn't afford to buy it at that time.

"We would like to offer them the price they asked us last year.

"If that is successful we could probably do it with the fundraising efforts we are doing."

BT confirmed the closure of its Alness site last year as part of its Better Workplace Programme which is reducing its number of offices from 300 buildings to about 30.

The Highland office had employed about 100 people.

BT said Fyrish Gymnastics had been renting the adjacent property at "significantly reduced" rent for several years.

A spokesperson said: "While we have advertised the building for sale at the current market value as we no longer need it, we are open to any offer, especially from the current tenant, to purchase it."