As you may imagine, the Community Council is often showered with correspondence from other bodies offering this and that and which, either, there is no time to deal with, or which, it seems, would arouse little general interest.  Sometimes these are things that have no relevance to our area, or to a place like Thornhill.  There are others, however, which might be of interest to someone in the community who might be  just be glad of the  information, or because a project or opportunity is mentioned which they might wish to take up for themselves or for part of the community.  The Community Council hopes to improve provision for Thornhill by using the new Village Website to publish information about such opportunities from time to time.  The Community Council would welcome any who would either wish to become Members of the Community Council itself or who might like to form a temporary group to complete some particular project or other.  Funding, or help with obtaining funding, can sometimes be available.  This way, we hope that more may be available to be done for the Village and its surrounding area than the existing Community Council has time to tackle.  Recent opportunities brought to our attention include:

Adopt a Kiosk

Local residents will be aware that, with the increasing ownership of Mobile Phones, BT phone boxes have been, or are being, decommissioned in much of the area.  You may also know that communities in different parts of the country are adopting redundant kiosks and using them for other purposes.  Fans of Radio 4’s ‘The Archers’ will know that the kiosk in Ambridge was adopted for use as a mini-information centre.  BT have produced a tin, containing information and a DVD to assist anyone who would like to do this.  The Community Council has been provided with a copy, which we will place in Thornhill Library, from where it can be borrowed.

Day of the Region

Dumfries & Galloway LEADER is an organisational, and funding, body based in New Abbey.  They are keen to promote, help organise and, often, fund activity of all sorts in rural areas.  This year they are organising a Day of the Region (well, two days, really) on 1^st and 2^nd October.  Samples of LEADER’s brochure on this are attached.  See also www.dayoftheregion.co.uk.  There are five areas of Dumfries & Galloway, mostly in the West, lined up to take part this year.  David Kerr, Secretary of Thornhill Community Transport, took part in a smaller version of this event a couple of years ago and described it as ‘a great way to discover lots of things I never knew about an area I grew up in’.  Perhaps you’d like to consider going?  Thornhill Community Transport is already signed up to participate again this year.  Perhaps you think something like this could be organised in Nithsdale next year?  LEADER and Thornhill Community Council would love to hear from you.

Click here to view a PDF with more information on Day of the Region