Community Council Blog
You may have been aware of last year’s Day of the Region, staged largely in the Kirckudbrightshire area last October, and which enabled communities in small towns and more rural areas to showcase what they had to offer. Although it will have done Tourism no harm, it is aimed primarily at making local people aware of what is on their doorstep. It is, if you like, a sort of Spring Fling open to participation by more than just the artistic community.
Last year’s was the first to be held in Scotland and Dumfries & Galloway (or at least the Kirkcudbrightshire part of it) was amongst the first areas to host it but LEADER, the organisers and sponsors, are hoping to include more parts of D&G in the event this year.
This is not something the Community Council can organise, as such, but, if a sufficient number of local organisations show interest in taking part, it is hoped that we, along with Closeburn /Carronbridge /Penpont /Tynron /Moniaive / Dunscore/Sanquhar….] might be able to stage a sufficient cluster of events to enable Nithsdale to take part.
Also on this page is an extract from LEADER’s autumn newsletter, describing some of the events and also LEADER’s guidelines for participation. If, having read these, you think this is something your organisation might like to participate in, please contact us as soon as possible. LEADER needs proposals in by the beginning of March, which doesn’t give us very long. It is hoped that we, and other, neighbouring Community Councils in Nithsdale, will be able to collate the notes of interest we get in, and perhaps make a joint submission to LEADER for support of our events.
See the LEADER website (www.dgcommunity.net/leader or www.dayoftheregion.co.uk) for more details.
We do hope this is something you might feel would be of benefit to your organisation and that you will want to take part. Thornhill Community Transport was involved, by invitation, last year, and is committed to do so again this year. They provided a free (funded by LEADER) shuttle bus between Castle Douglas, Gatehouse & Creetown, at regular intervals throughout the weekend, to enable visitors to get to venunes. Other CTAs provided similar services between other locations. It is hoped that this year, Thornhill CT, and maybe other local CTAs will be able to provide a shuttle service between venues in Nithsdale.
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