Galloway and West Dumfries MSP, Finlay Carson, has visited Rowan Glen and Bladnoch Distillery as part of his summer visits to businesses and organisations across his constituency.
Situated at Palnure, just outside Newton Stewart, Rowan Glen is a popular Scottish brand, producing dairy products including yogurts, yogurt drinks and desserts.
At Rowan Glen, Operations Director, David O’Shaughnessy, showed Mr Carson around the factory and gave him a flavour of the day-to-day operations of the company.
Rowan Glen employs around 50 local people, including a number of highly-skilled jobs, making it a big local employer in the area.
Mr Carson also visited Bladnoch Distillery and met with Directors David Prior and Gavin Hewitt to hear more about the plans for investment in the distillery, including the creation of new jobs.
Commenting on these visits, Mr Carson said:
“I have spent the Summer Recess visiting a number of businesses and organisations across Galloway and West Dumfries.
“This has allowed me to speak directly with employers, employees and volunteers to learn more about the fantastic range of businesses, services and activities in my constituency.
“It has also given me the opportunity to get a feeling for the views and issues that people have, which will feed into directly to my work as their local representative in the Scottish Parliament.
“I said at the outset that my overriding priority these next five years would be Galloway and West Dumfries. By going out and engaging with local communities, it is clear that people want someone to stand up, first and foremost, to campaign on local issues. This is exactly what I intend to do.
“Recently I visited Rowan Glen and Bladnoch Distillery – both dynamic and vibrant companies with national brands employing local people.
“I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Rowan Glen factory and learning more about their products and plans for further product development.
“It was also great to sit down with David and Gavin at Bladnoch Distillery to hear about their passion for whisky and our local area. The company has applied for a Food Cooperation and Manufacturing Cooperation Grant. I understand that recommendations are due to go to Scottish Government Ministers before the end of this month. I urge that a positive decision on grant aid is forthcoming and Bladnoch’s planned £5 million
investment in distilling and production can commence as soon as possible. With this investment the Distillery has a bright future ahead of it and I wish it every success.
“If you have an organisation or business in Galloway and West Dumfries that you would like me to visit, please get in touch”.
