One Highland kirk has bucked the trend of dwindling congregations selling church buildings to become pubs, buying the local health centre instead to cope with increasing numbers.

Tain and Fearn Free Church recently purchased the old NHS building in Tain for over £100,000, after deciding against bidding for a bus depot and a care home. Now its members intend to construct a new multi-purpose church facility over the coming years.

Minister Rev Alasdair MacAulay said "We don’t know yet how much we will demolish and how much we might retain of what is already there. Some of the building is only 20 years old."

The former BBC Radio nan Gàidheal journalist explained that in the past few years numbers at Sunday services in Tain had almost doubled, meaning that latecomers and occasionally visitors were having to sit in the very front pews because of the church’s limited 120-capacity.

The Fearn end of the congregation completed a £50,000 extension earlier this year, because they had run out of room for children’s activities.

Mr MacAulay said: “Tain and Fearn currently covers an area that used to have five congregations. We have folk coming from all these areas to our services.

“The Fearn congregation was united with Tain about five years ago, when it was vacant and unable to support a full-time ministry of its own with Sunday attendances in the low 20s. Fearn now has over 50 attending each Sunday morning with a large number of kids. To cater for these a new extension to the hall there has just been completed. Most of the work was done voluntarily by tradesmen in the congregation which kept the cost to a minimum.”

He said Tain had also grown from attendances of around 60 on a Sunday morning to around 90 now on a regular basis and sometimes reaching over 100.

“Our building could hold 120 if all the seats were filled. But even at current capacity it is difficult for families to find a place where they can all sit together. It can be difficult for new folk as they may need to come to the front for a seat.”

He said the congregation had considered various options including demolishing and rebuilding on their current site, purchasing a neighbouring bus depot and even a former care home.

In the end, they bought the old Tain Health Centre. The site covers an area of 0.66 acres including ample parking space. It is also only 100 metres away from the present church enabling the congregation to remain in the same part of town.

Mr MacAulay added: “We believe this is an ideal site for a church. It is a very prominent corner site close to the centre of Tain. "

In addition Highland Council had agreed to replace all of Tain’s schools and nurseries with a single 3-18 campus about 500 yards further up the street, where the current Tain Royal Academy is located.