DGWGO Friend Anna Louise Adair has very kindly sent us this report and some of her pictures of the official opening of the Ecclefechan Seasons Garden Official Opening which took place on the 25th of August 2013.

DGWGO would like to thank Anna for allowing us to share this with everyone.

Our Community Council received funding from the Leader Project.

LEADER is a bottom-up method of delivering support for rural development through implementing Local Development Strategies. Support is awarded by 20 Local Action Groups (LAGs) and is aimed at local projects with a wide community benefit that show an element of originality or experimentation, where possible, and complement other activities within the Local Development Strategy.

The funding was used to pay for various story boards telling the story of Village Life In Ecclefechan to be put up around the village. With the money that was left over it was decided to revamp the garden next to the village hall, in a way that the Hoddom Primary School Children could be involved .

Sculptor & Artist David Gross went along to the school where the children helped to carve an oak bench see photo below , standing stone sculptures were then designed following the story of butterflies and carved with the four seasons. Nursery school children read a story called “The Boy and the Blue Bunnet” which is a music and words adventure introducing children to Scots and Gaelic music and language from which the quotes on the sculptures were taken from this.

A very nervous but talented Primary 6 pupil, 9 yr old Ciara McGhie read a speech telling everyone how the garden came about, she also unveiled 6 plaque’s telling The Story of Ecclefechan Life these will be displaced in the village hall. Equally nervous Primary 1 pupil, 5 yr old Eisa Rasool unveiled the four seasons garden plaque.Well done to both children !

It was a lovely sunny afternoon well attended and showed true community spirit, where we all enjoyed tea and cakes afterwards. A huge thank you to all who made the garden possible and gave their support on the day.

This year for the first ever time, Kirkcudbright held its annual Tattoo, to mark the end of the Kircudbright Summer Festivities on a Saturday evening, instead of the usual bank holiday Monday.  It proved a huge success, with a crowd of 4,200 folk turning up to see the 3 hours of entertainment on the closed street in front of McLellan’s Castle! With a magical ending of an amazing Fire works display to finish the night off with a bang !

We sent DGWGO roving reporter Kevin Sloan of KSS Images along, on his first official DGWGO assignment and press pass.  Here is what Kevin had to say , and just a few of his amazing photos from the evening .

KEVIN SLOAN’S REPORT

On arriving to the site there was a great sense of hustle and bustle with people jostling to get the best viewing area up on walls crowding the streets which was great to see as everyone was making the most of the sun that was left after a brilliant sunny day.

There was the smell from the BBQ that filled the crowd which added to the friendly family community spirit. The kids were having a blast as they ran around dragging huge flags up and down the street some younger ones fighting to even hold them up but used every ounce of strength to get every minute out of it. when the spotlights came on and the pipers came out the crowd silenced to listen to the music that was blasting out around the harbour. There was impressive displays by the Cheshire Dog Display Team having the dogs jumping through a flaming assault course. The event had everything from flaming dog displays to sword dancers and came to a grand finale with a lone piper up in the castle at the end of the street then fireworks set off to music at the other end of the street.

Hope you can take something from my ramblings

DGWGO would like to thank Kevin for his time and support! 

You can also follow Kevin at his Facebook Page.

Today, Sunday 25th of August was the annual Kirkcudbright Summer Festivities Vintage Car Rally. I spoke to the Organisers , and they said this was the biggest turn out ever, with 125 cars taking place in the Rally and 150 cars, bikes and vehicles being at the public show on the towns Harbour Square and Moat brae afterwards!

There was a crowd of thousands, enjoying the August sunshine and milling around all the classic and vintage cars? Plus there were food stalls( I had a fantastic Hot Dog from Snack Attack’s stall, and was desperate for a Cream o’ Galloway ice cream , but the queue was massive) a small fun fair the the kids and entertainment in the Form of Jazz band and an RAF pipe band who had attended the Kirkcudbright Tattoo the night Before!

Today was also the Kirkcudbright Rotary Clubs Charity Duck race , which involved 2 Races , the first had 1200 ducks , all bought by the , public , and the first 3 fished out of the water after passing the bridge won prizes! The second Race was a corporate race , with 200 decorated ducks, that had been purchased by local businesses, and you could place a bet on the winner if you liked!

It was a hugely successful afternoon, and great to see the town so busy! DGWGO has been very proud to be involved in a mutual support scheme with the Kirkcudbright summer festivities this year! And we are looking forward to supporting them again in 2014, and seeing lots of you at the events next year! A massive well done to all the team at Kirkcudbright for putting on so many successful events during the year!

RB

DGWGO Roving Reporter Martin Johnston went along to the Moffat Mountain Rescue Team Open Day today and has put together a wee report and some images.

I had the pleasure of attending the above event on Sunday 25th August 2013.and meeting the dedicated volunteers who make up this vital service.

The team were first set up in 1969 following an incident when a fisherman broke his ankle at Loch Skene and the fisherman was rescued and carried down an icy path in darkness by the late GP Hugh Sinclair, a local Policeman and number of volunteers wearing golfing shoes and wellington boots.

Following this incident there was a meeting held and agreement made that a team should be set up to cater for such eventualities and therefore the Moffat Mountain Rescue Service was born.

Howard Taylor, a keen climber, who lived in the Moffat area at the time, was made Team Leader and quickly set about acquiring equipment and funding and began the painstaking task of teaching complete novices the art of using ropes etc effectively and safely.

From its humble beginnings to present day the team have relied heavily on voluntary donations, is now a registered charity , and owns equipment worth in excess of £75,000

During its time the team have attended in excess of 500 incidents and Mountain Rescue Teams are on constant stand by 24 hours per day every day of the year.

One of the worst incidents the Team had to deal with was in 1988, the aftermath of the Pan Am Flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie killing 270 people and scattering bodies and belongings over a wide area. The MMRT spent many days searching in the area, many involved encountering very harrowing experiences.

Primary Cover is the Eastern part of Dumfries & Galloway but the team has been called to incidents throughout the entire region and to assist teams in other areas, currently the team has approxiamately 30 members and a number of probationary members currently in training.

Currently the Team Leader is Colin Golphin who can be seen in the pictures below ( hes the one with the beard)

Activities today involved climbing walls, demonstrations of CPR ( Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation), immobilisation of patients for safe transport and all involved seemed to be interested and enjoying theirselves from young to the more mature.

I personally on behalf of DGWGO site would like to praise the the hard work, dedication and professionalism of the volunteers who sacrifice the own their own time and may at times put their own lives at risk in order to save others.
Further information may be found on their Facebook Page or their website www.moffatmrt.org.uk which has links to their Just Giving contributions page if you feel you may like to donate towards this very worthy charity.

MJ.

This weekend 23/24 of August the Stranraer RNLI held the 4th Park Fest , Music Festival in Agnew Park in the Town !

DGWGO was very kindly invited by Mandy, who runs the Event , to pop along and see what it was about for ourselves! On the Friday night, our Roving Reporter Alison Smith Went along to the ‘Young Guns Evening’ and did a Fantastic Report for us. And on the Saturday I managed to pop along for a few hours.

When I spoke to Mandy , she was extremely busy , she was saying they had over 2000 folk through the gate on the day. There was lots of entertainment to keep the crowds happy , including a funfair , stalls, food stalls, side shows, Murray the Magician doing his amazing escapology and sword stunts . Plus the main stage tent , with fantastic. Acts performing live music. I didn’t manage to get there until 6.00pm due to work. But I did manage to catch the Fantastic ‘ Ifoundation’ , then local music hero’s ‘Finding Albert’ then of course the amazing 90’s pop stars ‘Dodgy‘ who blew us away and had the crowd bouncing with hit after hit!

The evening was rounded of with the local band ‘ Missionary Men’ who were joined on stage by Lochryan Pipe Band! It was a spine tingling finish to one of the best wee music festivals I have ever been too!

After everything had calmed down , I was invited by Ali Donowho and Lee Medd from Alive Radio , who had been the MC’s for the whole weekend , to Sit in while the interviewed ‘Dodgy’ . As a novice press reporter , I jumped at the chance, and it was fantastic to see the pro’s at work . Plus it was a great chance for me to get some behind the scenes photo’s and to meet the band! Even managed to get my photo taken with them and the lads from Alive Radio!

Nigel the lead singer from Dodgy seemed to of really enjoyed the whole festival , and him and the band headed of the the North West Castle Hotel , in he town for a well earned rest!

DGWGO must thank the organisers of Park Fest for inviting us along , and letting us get involved in such a magical event! We are really looking forward to seeing what Park Fest 2014 has in store for us !

RB

Alison Smith of Galloway Media (and our roving reporter) went along to the Stranraer Inshore Lifeboat Park Fest Young Guns . She has kindly put together a wee report and some images.

You can see many more of Alison’s Images at her Facebook Albums

Roving Rhins reporter here reporting from Stranraer Inshore lifeboat Park Fest Young Guns in Agnew Park, Stranraer.

The best of our young talent! A real mix of muscial talent :

Scope & Dee, Jude Iyiku, Azariah, Ignite The Sky, Caution By The Door, Monumental Suits, Ashes to the End

I was lucky enough to see the show start with Bemz, Jude Iyiku. He is a 19 year old rapper, formerly of Stranraer academy, now based in Ayr. At the age of 15 he started to write lyrics and started recording when he was 16.

Following on we had “Ignite the Sky” a modern metal band formed in early 2012.

 

The third young guns to play were “Monumental suits”, some of Stranraers finest talent. The band formed in summer 2009 and play a variety of music ranging from 70’s rock through to modern day chart music. They were winners of last years “Stranraer battle of the bands”.

 

“Caution by the door” were the last band I saw before I left this evening. They are a local band that have been performing for 2 years. They play a variety of music and their sound is quite diverse.

 

I had a great night at “Young Guns” and tomorrow’s “Park Fest” is set to be a fantastic event with “Southbound” kicking off at 12.30 followed by some fantastic artists playing right through until the final “Expect the unexpected” event to finish. Well done to the organisers and everyone involved.

 

Alison Smith
Galloway Media

Mark Shelley has kindy sent us an article highlighting what to expect from this new arts festival which takes place in Dumfries and Galloway from the 30th of August to the 2nd of September 2013.

Days of Wonder

Decades in newspaper journalism make you cynical, just as the downward march of middle age can make you world-weary.

So for an old hack and PR like me it’s a particular pleasure when something comes along to rekindle a childlike sense of wonder.

Working to promote the new Environmental Art Festival Scotland (EAFS), which takes place here in Dumfries and Galloway from Friday, 30 August to Monday, 2 September, has done just that.

There’s a huge amount going on, but certain events and activities have really caught my imagination.

One is Dark Outside FM – there is something which makes me chuckle with delight about setting up a temporary radio station in the heart of a Galloway forest to play 24 hours of previously unreleased music. The music industry has the reputation of being a self-obsessed search for stardom. The fact that 200 bands, groups, singers and musicians from all over the world are donating pieces to the project gives a very different impression.

Voice From the Phone Box, by installation artist Katie Anderson, also has an evocative quality that really appeals to me. She has recorded memories of local life which people can listen to on six ceramic handsets being placed inside the disconnected phone box in Clarencefield, near Annan.

They include happy recollections of playing games around the waste pipe from the Chapelcross nuclear power station. Katie’s idea is great because so many of us have fond, and often powerful, associations with these crumbling red phone boxes.

For me one of the strongest is the hormonal 14-year-old urgency of waiting outside, coins clenched in sweaty palm, to try to call my nonchalant girlfriend Liz. I couldn’t make the call for ages because a large, older and rather weird kid was in there making anonymous phone calls to random numbers in the Soviet Union. Earlier today it occurred to me that he may have gone on to a sparkling career at GCHQ.

More generally what I love about EAFS is that it is a beacon of optimism in an often gloomy social and economic landscape. Joint organisers The Stove, Wide Open and Spring Fling have put something together that brings together art, science, politics and the public to try to promote a more sustainable future.

And instead of being all preachy, they are trying to generate ideas for new lifestyles that can be fun, engaging, full of vibrant opportunities – and which make the most of our environment rather than reducing it to wreckage.

One of the main commissions involves young artist James Winnett creating a big gravity powered fountain at the bottom of the Grey Mare’s Tail. I love the idea of seeing the river tumble down a woodland waterfall, only to shoot back up again with no apparent cause.
EAFS is an international event (which it’s hoped will become biennial) and involves some renowned figures like Ueno Masao from Japan, who is creating a seven-metre bamboo and willow sculpture near Gatehouse of Fleet.

And it’s actually one of the overseas visitors who intrigues me most – a woman shaman from Mongolia. The nomadic peoples of Mongolia understand rather a lot about sustainability and their land, and religious beliefs are things that have intrigued me for a long time. So the chance to drop into a yurt at the Cairnsmore of Fleet reserve and be introduced to something so far beyond my normal experience really appeals to me.

I was trying to think of a sophisticated way to describe how all of these things make me feel. While I was doing so I looked over at one of my elderly greyhounds who suddenly woke up from his afternoon doze and started to sniff the air, as if some special scent of summer had just drifted through the window. I suppose that sums it up pretty well.

Matthew Shelley

http://www.matthewshelley.net/

Last Friday evening two ladies from Castle Douglas , Leigh Riddell and Jenny Carson , held a fund raiser in the Local Town hall, to raise money for Castle Douglas Civic weeks and the Christmas lights , plus they also held a draw for someone to nominate a charity of their choice to benefit ! Jenny just sent us in the news  of the total raised .

The pennies have been counted and once again Leigh McFarlane and I have a massive thank you to say to everyone who came along to see the Benidorm Rovers on Friday night.

The grand total of £2375 was raised!! Andrea Williamson won the lucky ticket draw and chose Castle Douglas Hospital as her charity so £500 will be donated to them and the remainder will go to the Castle Douglas Development Forum to support things like Civic Week and the Christmas lights.

We really hope that everyone who came enjoyed the night as much as we did. Special thanks to the bar staff, those who helped us set up, Nokie’s Disco and Alan Riddell for their help in making the night such a success. Roll on January when hopefully the Rovers boys will be back on their winter tour!! — with Leigh McFarlane and 5 others.

DGWGO were invited along to take some photos and to see the Benidorm Rovers for ourselves . It was a fantastic night , with over 180 folk there , enjoying the Covers and Irish tunes from the band as well as all the Poptastic tunes being played by Nokies Disco (as  seen at the pimms bar at the Wickerman festival for the last 2 years !

RB

AS SEEN ON ITV TELEVISION NEWS!

Big Lights, Big Screens, Big Time Wrestling and Big Thrills in Dumfries on 30th August 2013.

Showcase Promotions, in partnership with Mississippi Bar and Grill are proud to present Showcase Wrestling LIVE @ The Club – 30th of August 2013. Suitable for all members of the family, young and old alike!

Showcase Wrestling have featured on ITV news and have been all over the local media in the run up to this event which promises to be one of the best nights out you’ll have in a long time with world-class wrestling action on your doorstep.

British National Heavyweight Champion, James Scott, will face of against Dumfries’ own Liam Watson in a match for the National Title plus a spot in the final of the prestigious Caledonian Cup which also involves Jam O’Malley and the behemoth that is Nathan Black and will be concluded on the night. Can Liam Watson triumph?

Scotland’s Mike Musso will be in action against an English counterpart in a Scotland vs. England match, in what is set to be a violent and explosive affair.

Womens sensation Vyper, who has been garnering attention worldwide with her destructive performances is sure to give the Dumfries crowd something to remember when she takes on Sara.

There will be a battle royal match featuring young up and coming stars in European wrestling and the winner will win a full-time contract with Showcase Wrestling.

This and more will go down on the night in a minimum 6 match event.

Tickets are available from Mississippi Bar and Grill and The Club, Lochside Rd, Lochside, Dumfries.

Doors open: 19:00 – First Bell: 19:30

Event Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/152679764921574/?fref=ts

Like Showcase Promotions on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/showcasepromotions

See us on ITV News: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl2ZKqfGAU8

Email us: [email protected]

Rerrick Events, the non-profit arm of the Wickerman Festival, will be raffling a piece of TV history as part of their ongoing commitment to sponsoring an African orphan.

From today, the charitable organisation will launch a raffle offering one lucky winner the chance to win a collectable Eastenders sign and a pair of VIP tickets to Scotland’s hottest summer party – The Wickerman Festival.

The iconic Albert Square street sign was kindly donated by Rerrick Events from the popular BBC1 soap and has been autographed by cast members.

The competition will close on Halloween, 31st October 2013 and the lucky winner will be drawn and notified on Bonfire Night, 5th November 2013.

All the money raised from the raffle will be pledged to help educate a young Tanzanian orphan, James Okeyo, who the organisation has sponsored for the last two years.

About Rerrick Events
Rerrick Events was established as a not for profit organisation in 2003, when the Wickerman Festival became a limited company. It is run by a local group from Dumfries and Galloway as a vehicle to raise money for charitable causes. For the last two years the organisation has supported a young Tanzanian orphan named James Okeyo, who lives in a small village near Mount Kilimanjaro.

Schools in Tanzania are not free to attend, however James was educated for free until the age of eight as his grandmother worked at his local school. On his eighth birthday, Rerrick Events took on the yearly cost of sending him to school and have raised the fee in various ways, including fundraising in the Wickerman Festival’s children’s area.

About The Wickerman Festival
The Wickerman Festival
Wickerman is one of the UK’s best-loved independent music festivals and is now entering its 12th consecutive year. With ten stages featuring an eclectic and exciting mix of leading artists, alternative acts and up-and-coming talent, the two day summer party caters for all musical tastes.

It is one of the friendliest festivals in Scotland and with hundreds of music-loving families in attendance each year, there’s a host of cool kids entertainment and activities on offer. The festival site is a working farm in picturesque Dumfries and Galloway; its rolling hills, lush forests and fresh country air make for a refreshing vibe. It is also where the classic 1973 Wicker Man film was made – the inspiration for the festival’s name.

The Wickerman site is a wonderland for adults and children alike with a cinema, fun fair, circus entertainment, grass sledging, mountain biking and array of arts and craft activities scattered throughout its fields. High quality yurts, tipis, cloud houses and spacious campsites complete the magical festival experience.

Every year the festival stages an unforgettable finale, as thousands of fans flock to watch a towering 40ft Wickerman be spectacularly set alight.