WATCH: Head teacher of South Lodge Primary in Invergordon hails future opportunities for pupils from renewable energy boom as Opportunity Cromarty Firth continues push for green freeport status
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THE head teacher of an award-winning Easter Ross primary has spoken of the opportunities children he is now teaching will have from the burgeoning renewable energy industry on their doorstep.
David Hayes-Macleod, who recalls the "buzz" in his hometown of Invergordon during the oil boom years, spoke of his excitement at seeing the renewable sector "really taking off" now.
Mr Hayes-Macleod, who was a pupil at South Lodge Primary, spoke of how he decided to return to the toen after a stint spending in London when an oportunity at his former school tugged his heartstrings.
South Lodge was a primary school winner in the recent Highland Heroes awards run by our parent company, Highland News and Media.
Mr Hayes-Macleod is featured in a video produced by Opportunity Cromarty Firth, the consortium behind a bid to secure so-called green freeport status from the Scottish and Westminster governments.
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He said: "I was here during the the boom of the oil industry. This was a very affluent area. The place was buzzing, the school was buzzing. There wasn't a spare bay, a spare classroom in the school...that, of course, changed and people had to move away from the town because the work was no longer there."
He went on: "However, now having the renewables and having the renewable energies and the opportunities on our doorstep here at the Port of Cromarty Firth, [it] will open up many opportunities for the children that are here, for their families. And looking forward, I am very excited to be the head teacher in a school, in a town, where you can see this renewable energy really taking off."
