The grand reopening of the new Timespan is set for the first day of Easter and the beginning of the new tourist season. The transformation is absolutely stunning.

Visitors are going to see much of what they have always loved (only much improved) and a raft of wonderful new ideas that have bought Timespan back to life in quite a unique way.

The first hint that this is a very different Timespan is on the A9 when the new signage comes into view. Fresh, contemporary and exciting it leads one into the village and eventually the building which has changed – not beyond recognition - but certainly for the better. The old frontage facing The Bridge Hotel is painted a brilliant white with the Shore Street fascia now a delicious deep chocolate brown.

The next big surprise for those who have not yet seen the first phase of Timespan’s redevelopment is the Geology Garden. Designed in 2006 to facilitate more space within the building, it is now an integral part of the riverside, displaying a remarkable collection of huge rocks and boulders with a combined age of over 16,000 million years! This area sweeps through to a café terrace, past a glass balustrade providing a view of the river, and on to the herb garden which nestles against the Telford Bridge. All this before even entering the building.

Back to the main entrance opposite the car park, which has been emphasised by chunky new iron railings by Adam Booth, artist-blacksmith – a design based on the sea at the heart of Helmsdale’s fishing heritage. The foyer and shop is now brighter, lighter and more welcoming because the first thing you see is someone (smiling) at a reception desk. The quality of stock in Timespan’s shop has always been very high, some of it sourced locally. The café, still beautifully situated to the left of the entrance continues to bask in the glory of delicious food, a door leading to the riverside terrace and a memorable view.

MUSEUM
How to describe the new museum? Well it is entirely unexpected even for someone who has mostly forgotten what the old ground floor looked like. To explain briefly, it was this area that catapulted Timespan into this very challenging redevelopment in the first place. Once home to a large water feature and the geological rocks, the entire space had accumulated so much rising damp that the building was under threat of closure. It really was a question of redevelop or die!

This isn’t so much a renovation as a revolution. Once through the new and elegant museum doors, the Community Timeline which leads visitors to the much loved Crofting Street is colourful and irreverent. It is briefly disorienting to be taken from the beginning of time to the brave new world of the 21st Century but it is an amusing and lighthearted introduction. The Smiddy, Byer, Croft and 19th century Village Shop still tug at the heart strings and remain the essence of Helmsdale. They feel the same and still beautifully display local artifacts but are fresh (that word again) and very appealing. The various soundtracks are enchanting – especially that of a local woman who recalled how as a child she’d had a chance meeting with the last blacksmith to ply his trade in Helmsdale.

The Storytelling Room is a brilliant solution to what was Timespan’s biggest problem. They had to lose the old mannequin exhibits now threadbare and charmless, while retaining the excitement of the stories as they were told 20 years ago. The Storytelling Room provides a cosy yet intense using audio visual to create a sense of history and adventure. The tales are told via five animated films conceived, developed and delivered by local and very talented people with professional guidance. The result is fabulous! This is also a space that can be used dramatically in the time honoured way, with real life story tellers for groups or special events.

Those who asked Timespan for a more detailed interpretation of local history (and there were many) will be very excited by the new exhibition room. It has been designed for flexibility – essential for a modern museum - with a number of stylish modules that lead the visitor effortlessly through a very personal narration of past times. The combination of images, texts and artifacts draw together sensitive and riveting accounts of murder most vile, the Highland Clearances, the Kildonan Gold Rush and river and sea fishing including of course the extraordinary days when Helmsdale was responsible for supplying most of the UK with herrings. Going through the exhibition room is a totally absorbing experience. There is much to read that draws on different segments of Helmsdale’s history and although complete, the exhibits do the proper job of raising curiosity and demand further investigation. And so to the archive which has been designed to facilitate those very enquiries.

It’s important to see Timespan’s new Community Archive for the simple fact of its existence. Airy, filled to the rafters with documents, photographs, books and files – all of which are accessible, this is the product of an enormous amount of hard work. Timespan is to be congratulated for putting such a major emphasis on the important matter of recording and collecting information and the detail of community life. While the growing popularity of genealogical research has been the spur to establishing the archive, its greatest value is that it will provide local people with the opportunity to really explore their heritage and share personal knowledge and memories with others.

Timespan’s Heritage group has made an enormous contribution to the research and collation of the museum’s displays and archives. They also have their own area – the Community Exhibition Room – in which they have reinstated their popular Gartymore display which is another opportunity to lose (find?) an hour of your time immersed in the history of this fascinating area.