Our Centre, the old public school of Cullen, was built and offically opened on January 26th 1876, three years after the first election of a School Board. To celebrate its opening the grammer school pupils got ready a flute band, and with flags, flutes and drums they marched up to Cullen House, got an orange, and then marched back again to their new premises. The headmaster at that time was Dr William Crammond, a brilliant scholar, and an outstanding figure in literary and antiquarian circles throughout Scotland.

The old public school which gave up its secondary department in 1969, was finally closed down in 1970 when the new (current) primary school building was opened on October 1st of that same year. The headmaster at that time was William McBride.

Since then parts of the ‘old school’ building have been used as a Nursery, a Library and Community & Residential Centre.

The Centre is now run by a charity called ‘The Three Kings Cullen Association’, which is directed by local volunteers. In 2017, the local authority announced that it was going to close the Centre by June 2018 with a view to demolishing the building in 2019 unless the people of Cullen took on the building as a ‘Community Asset Transfer’ (CAT). A community meeting, attended by around 100 people, was held in the Cullen Town Hall, where it became clear that the will of the people of Cullen was to keep the centre open.

Following this initial meeting, a further series of meetings were held until a core group of members was formed. The path towards a CAT required the members to form a charity with suitable constitution and charitable aims, to initially take on a 2 year lease from the council. The Three Kings Cullen Association was formed in May 2018 and eventually signed the lease, after a lot of ground work and negotiations with council, on September 1st 2018. The Community Asset Transfer was a very lengthy process with lots of effort required, also hampered by COVID, which thankfully paid off in the end with a successful transfer into local community hands.

Our challenge now is to make the centre sustainable for the years to come, by promoting the residential centre and working with the people of Cullen to provide a range of activities for our diverse community.

The possibilities are limitless. The Centre has fantastic facilities set in a stunning location with lots to offer old and young alike. Take a wander through our website to find out more about what Cullen and our Community Centre have to offer you.