The Fourth Round Of Awards Through The Galloway Glens Small Grants Scheme Is Announced

At the October meeting of the Galloway Glens Partnership Board, a further seven awards were made through the Small Grants Scheme, supporting projects up and down the Ken/Dee Valley with more than £24,000 in total.

The Galloway Glens Small Grants Scheme has now made 22 awards, totalling more than £75,000 in value.

Recipients of funding in the fourth round are:

• Carsphairn Community Woodland Ltd – The applicant is in the process of purchasing 49 hectares of woodland at Muirdrochwood forest, near Carsphairn. (https://www.carsphairn.org/CCWL). This award will support the installation of visitor amenities, including picnic benches, noticeboard, compost toilet and hide. £4,885 awarded.
• Balmaclellan Community Trust – The group are seeking to install a heritage display in the village hall to showcase the rich history of Balmaclellan and its people, acting as a social and educational resource. £4,913 awarded.
• Propagate CIC – The group, based at the Mill on the Hidden Road by Loch Ken, will provide courses and training on topics such as agro-ecological land management, organic food growing and low carbon solutions. £5,000 awarded.
• South West Dry Stone Dyking Association – A Drystane Dyking competition will be held at Threave Estate in September 2021. Building on the success of a previous event held (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB4h3ixDqwA) . £1,800 awarded.
• Kirkcudbright Community Tennis Club – Formed in 1914 on the site of what used to be the town’s quoits field, Kirkcudbright Community Tennis Club are seeking to replace the tennis court surface. £2,000 awarded.
• Glenkens Community & Arts Trust – The project will cast a bronze replica of the locally found Balmaclellan Mirror, dated from the first century AD, currently on display at the National Museum of Scotland (https://arthistoryproject.com/timeline/prehistory/iron-age/the-balmaclellan-mirror/) . The replica will be a permanent exhibit at the Balmaclellan Smiddy. £4,015 awarded.
• Gaidhlig Dumgal – Compiling and publishing the papers from the successful 2018 ‘Galloway, Gaelic’s lost province’ conference. £2,000 awarded.

Jude Crooks, Galloway Glens Administrator and lead contact for the Small Grants Scheme, said:

“The Galloway Glens Scheme has now made 22 Small Grant awards, worth more than £75,000 in total. This was our fourth funding round and I’m looking forward to working with the range of community groups that have received an award. We have a £100,000 budget for the Small Grants Scheme and so will be advertising the next funding round in the near future.”

Ted Leeming, the Chairman of the Galloway Glens Partnership Board, said:

“The Small Grants Scheme is a small but extremely valuable part of the work being done by the wider Galloway Glens Scheme, and has already supported a varied suite of projects that seek to connect people to their heritage in their own way.

It is great to see such appetite and demand for innovative and forward-thinking projects in these strange times that we live in. My thanks go, as ever, to my fellow Partnership Board members, the Galloway Glens Team, the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the award and all Scheme partners, including the Council’s Environment Team and the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere.”