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Musings News Project Updates

Oh, What a Harvest!

Looking back at the Unexpected Garden’s community event

Image – Matt Baker

On Saturday 10th September, Harvest Festival was held in the Unexpected Garden, Stranraer’s newest outdoor community space.

A day full of music, performances, workshops and creativity, Harvest was an opportunity to bring the community together, celebrate and take a moment to reflect on the journey the Unexpected Garden Team, its supporters and volunteers had taken to transform a previously unused area of land on the waterfront of Stranraer’s ionic harbour into a community garden filled with flowers, edible pants and spaces to relax.

Six months ago the Unexpected Garden team stepped foot on what was an inconspicuous patch of green space, used regularly by dog walkers. With a lot of planning, digging, laughter and fun, they managed to turn the space into a little oasis in Stranraer. 

Image – Matt Baker

After many weeks of hard work, this oasis, the Unexpected Garden, was in full glorious bloom and ready to welcome the town for an afternoon of family-friendly fun. Harvest was a sea of colour and life – attracting not only the locals but also an influx of bees and other pollinators enjoying the flowers in the garden. An array of fabulous performers animated the garden with their lively, off beat shows and musicians provided the soundtrack to a fantastic day.

Harvest Festival and The Unexpected Garden are part of a national project called Dandelion; Scotland’s contribution to Unboxed, a year long UK wide festival of creativity which aims to develop our understanding of where food comes from, down to the basic principles of ‘growing your own’. The team in Stranraer are part of a cohort of 13 garden teams who have all been using art and creativity to share the message of ‘sow, grow, share’.

Harvest was a culmination of the event series that ran over the summer and was a really important opportunity to bring more people than ever into the garden. The festival day was really special, with an abundance of smiling faces enjoying the space, food and entertainment which included; a dedicated kids corner with creative workshops and activities like, scarecrow making competitions, magic shows and musical instrument making, plus musical performances throughout the day with sets from: Paragon, Drum for Fun, Dandelion Musician in residence, Bell Lungs and Kissing the Flint, and interactive performances from the Bippity characters and gardener, Hugh Bushey Babcock and his psychic leek, Leia.

Image – Gregor Anderson
Image – Gregor Anderson
Image – Gregor Anderson
Image – Gregor Anderson

Of the Harvest Festival, Beth Piggott, Creative Producer of the Garden said:

“One of the highlights of the day was our delivery of the community meal. Over the past few months we have worked with Simon Preston and the Fed-Up Cafe to create a menu for the town that could be served at the festival. After collecting stories from people across the town, we devised a menu that reflected the people and the traditions: sweet potato and chilli soup to represent the warmth in the community; beef stew with nice leafy greens in tribute to the beef farming and livestock which is ever present on the local green landscape, a vegan boxty represented links to Ireland and our victoria plum cake commemorated the lives of those lost when the MV Princess Victoria Ferry sank in 1953.”

Image – Matt Baker
Image – Matt Baker

On the day the garden also hosted a produce swap which was a big success and the team were delighted to be able to give away a selection of vegetables grown in the garden and invited others to bring their own to the table. 

Image – Gregor Anderson

The garden is a shining example of the possibilities that regeneration has to offer at a time when lots of exciting conversations are taking place about what could be next for Stranraer. It’s wonderful to think that the unexpected garden is one of the many new building blocks of change in the town, supporting innovation and creativity locally. 

Supported by so many local and national businesses and organisations including; Ulsterbus, Burns Real Ale, Dumfries & Galloway Council, Incredible Edibles, Stranraer Academy, and Soleburn Garden Centre, the Unexpected Garden Stranraer also captured the imagination of both Caledonian MacBrayne and The Northern Lighthouse Board who both donated large scale props in the form of a decommissioned lifeboat and two sea buoys respectively.

Of the donations, Mike Bullock, Chief Executive of the Northern Lighthouse Board said:

“It’s an honour for our decommissioned buoys to be part of the Stranraer Unexpected Garden Project. The buoys served at sea for many years helping keep mariners safe and had reached the end of their operational life.  We are therefore delighted that they have found another role being reused as part of this innovative project where they can be enjoyed by the local community and act as a symbol of Scotland’s rich maritime heritage.”

Still glowing in the aftermath of the festival, which put smiles on so many faces, the UNexpected garden team are still working to realise a vision for the future of the garden. Right now, they’re focus is to keep the garden alive, and who knows there may be many more Harvests to come! 

If you’re interested in getting involved with the garden feel free to drop me an email on [email protected] 

Categories
Musings News Project Updates

Doughlicious

How the Open Hoose project came to be the community bread club with a twist

All photography and videography by Patrick Rooney

Starting as an Open Hoose project, Delicious formed as a group of amateur bakers and bread enthusiasts, getting together to share recipes and tips, as well as making dough!

How it started

Led by retired nurse and keen amateur baker, Liz Grieve, Doughlicious was set up to offer a space where people could access and learn the skills needed to create a dough, whether for baking a simple loaf of bread, or starting a pizza base, whatever appeals more!

Passionate about baking and the process of informal learning through knowledge sharing, Liz has sought to create an approachable and educational space, free of charge, where she could share her experience of baking with others and learn new techniques and recipes in return.

Watch the short clip below for a Doughlicious member’s insight into the group, and why it matters to them.

The purpose

Using only organic and natural ingredients including wheat grown and milled in Scotland, Doughlicious looks to impart the skills to bake bread at home, with the ethos that, by doing so, the local community can feed directly into the grain economy of Scotland.

Doughlicious aims to:

  • Empower and inspire people to bake their own bread
  • Provide a place to learn, share skills and experiences
  • Offer opportunities for members of the community to get together
  • Contribute to a sustainable Scottish grain economy

Doughlicious is a group open to anyone who likes to bake or wants to learn how to begin, letting you shape your own baking journey.

Would you like to get involved?

Keep an eye on our events page for the next Doughlicious session, held at The Stove.

Open Hoose is a project at the heart of the Stove’s community venue. Ideas are given the space, time, resources and support of the Stove Network to launch ambitious projects to galvanise and gather our communities together.

From climate cafes to bread clubs, jam nights and creative writing groups, Open Hoose offers an eclectic mix of different activities for everyone to take part in. 

Find out more about Open Hoose here.

Categories
News Opportunities Project Updates

Nithraid River Race 2022

Nithraid River Race is back for another year!

On Saturday 13th August 2022, teams of intrepid sailors and coastal rowers are invited to take to the Nith in their vessels to race from Glencaple to Dumfries and back, battling it out for the best time.

Where did it all begin?

Our River Nith connects us all in Nithsdale. Nithraid Festival celebrates and explores our town’s long relationship with the river and its importance to the people and communities it connects – be that the past, present or communities of the future.

Nithraid 2018

The Nith is a tidal river that runs through the historic market town of Dumfries, connecting the town to the sea. In the 18th century, the town and its neighbouring villages of Glencaple and Kingholm Quay became Scotland’s largest and busiest trading ports.

To celebrate this rich history, we hold an annual River Race, which sees teams of coastal rowers, sailing boats and various person-powered vessels race the river, battling for the best time as they make their way to the finish line.

Nithraid 2021

Why take part?

Nithraid is a fun-filled and action-packed event with great memories to be made for those who take part as well as those who watch the race unfold. After all, the race itself isn’t always straight forward! 

Sal Cuddihy, Head of Production for The Stove Network explains what makes Nithraid special:

“It’s great to see the diverse range of boats involved in the race… we’ve got four different categories of race entry, from sailboats, coastal rowing skiffs, rowing skulls and miscellaneous vessels too. Because of the mix of all the different types of boats, they all come in at different times which is so exciting to watch as they battle against each other to move up the river on the tide…

Nithraid 2015

…it’s especially fun to watch them move with the tidal bore as it adds that extra element of challenge. Sometimes, if they don’t get up the river quick enough, it gets harder for them to move with the water as the tide moves back up towards the sea. All these components make the river race a really fun and engaging spectacle – and there’s always an unexpected event, which usually provides some great entertainment!”

Nithraid 2015

If you like a challenge, fancy a day of fun on the Nith and want to get involved, enter the race!

“The River Nith is a defining natural dynamic of our area, and Nithraid is a wonderful celebration of it. The race, over the navigable length of the tidal reach from Glencaple to Dumfries, is open to any non-motorised craft and makes a great spectacle especially from the bridges, and is excellent fun for participants.”
 – River Race Producer, Mark Zygadlo

Nithraid 2016

Applications to enter this year’s Nithraid River Race are now open. Whether you’re a team of coastal rowers, a sailing crew or a single skiff, this is your opportunity to join the Nithraid community and take part in Nithraid 2022!

FOR ENTRY FORMS, CLICK HERE

Categories
Musings News

Progressive Seagull Alliance

An open letter from the Progressive Seagull Alliance

Gulls, vagabonds vindicators, lend me yer chips ears!

The Gull. To a Doonhamer, the seagull or ‘largus paininthearsus’ (in Latin) is as welcome as a fart in a phone box. Their reputation precedes them. And rightly so. Who hasn’t been tormented by the kamikaze swoop of a mother gull protecting its hard-won nest? Or been unwittingly stalked pons’t the purchase of a steak bake? These psychopaths of the sky are to Dumfries as Shania Twain is to a Slipknot concert, incompatible, and not all that welcome. Like Jackson Pollock at a warehouse rave, their excrement paints the town in an abstract canvas of anarchy, leaving a trail of empty Greggs bags and traumatised playgrounds in their wake.

So in light of all that, you might be wondering to yourself why exactly the Stove decided to dawn masks, costumes, banners and flags in celebration of these aerial dementors at this year’s Guid Nychburris. I know because I saw you, yes you, looking more than a little confused, in-between the saltire flag and Currie’s lorry, beside the swaying fella with the lime green afro wig and the trumpet. (Side note: imagine having to explain Guid Nychburris to an alien).

Meet the Progressive Seagull Alliance, a vigilante group dedicated to progressive and positive change for the town.

Yes, like Batman (yes I did just compere this to the Dark Knight himself), the Progressive Seagull Alliance (PSA) are here to tackle the negative perceptions of a town on the cusp of something quite extraordinary. Using the winged fiends as an archetype for the town, the PSA are here to challenge negativity, platform the amazing work that’s happening throughout our town and get active!

Riding on the mighty success of their winning entry to the Guid Nychburris Parade (get in!), the Progressive Seagull Alliance are now recruiting for members!

Think of it like Anonymous, only without the scary ‘V’ masks, encyclopaedic knowledge of cryptocurrency, global financial markets and hacking, the Progressive Seagull Alliance are a new wave of positivity swooping into the town.

So how do you get involved?

Stay on the lookout for the Progressive Seagull Alliance pop-ups happening through August and September! Sign up, contribute to our manifesto and get making!


Categories
News Project Updates

Meet the Creative Spaces Team

Creative Spaces is an exciting collaborative project at The Stove which offers both paid and voluntary opportunities for the under 30s in Dumfries & Galloway.

The project brings together young creatives, from different disciplines, to facilitate an annual programme of events, activities and workshops, all designed to explore and develop artistic responses to cultural issues that impact young people in Dumfries & Galloway.

In May 2022 we were joined by 4 new members to The Stove team:

Mia Osborne as our Emerging Producer, Emma Forsyth, Morgan Love and Alice Griffin as our three Associate Artists for this year’s Creative Spaces programme. You can find out a bit more about each of our new teammates here.

We asked them a few questions so you could get to know them! Here’s what they had to say…

Q) What is your practice?

Mia – “I wouldn’t say I have one singular defined practice however, my skills lie in the production and facilitation of events and community engagement work. I hope to communicate these throughout the year as CS producer in order to aid the associates with the programming and delivery of meaningful community events.”

Alice – “I studied illustration at ECA and during my final year I started screen-printing, which I totally fell in love with. I like to make prints from found objects or textures which I combine with hand drawn and photographed elements, either digitally or by hand. I like to experiment with different printmaking techniques and my work is mostly a tool for me to explore social issues and connect with others.”

Emma – “My studies and knowledge are in theatre, and I feel I am still working out my practice! I love documentary drama and finding new fun ways to engage people in their own talented community.”

Morgan – “I don’t have a creative practice per se, my interest rather lies in the development of the local region and how the creative sector can contribute to it. I am also a Business student, specialising in Marketing, and I hope to utilise and develop the skills I am gaining in my degree and apply them to the Creative Spaces programme.”

Q) Where are you from? What draws you to D&G as a young creative?

Mia – “I grew up in rural D&G in a tiny wee village called Durisdeer. After leaving the area to go off to uni and circumstantially having to return, I was instantly drawn to a lot of the creative organisations in Dumfries because of the beneficial work they were doing for the community and it’s where I found I aligned best.”

Mia – “I grew up in rural D&G in a tiny wee village called Durisdeer. After leaving the area to go off to uni and circumstantially having to return, I was instantly drawn to a lot of the creative organisations in Dumfries because of the beneficial work they were doing for the community and it’s where I found I aligned best.”

Alice – “Originally I’m from Guildford, Surrey. I moved to Edinburgh in 2015, then to Dumfries in 2021. I moved down to Dumfries to join my partner. Aside from that I was looking forward to a slower pace of life and having more outside space. I had heard of The Stove before moving down but didn’t quite realise just how creative the region is.”

Emma – “I am originally from Dalbeattie, but moved up to Glasgow to study theatre. Even though I moved to the city to find opportunities in the arts, I resonate with all the work and projects down at home. The amount of good work getting created by talented people in D&G was what drew me back down.”

Morgan – “I am local to the area – I grew up in Lochside but have spent the last few years living close to the town centre. My main attraction to D&G stems from having a large root system in the local region, and I have a great passion surrounding the development of the town to become a place that is attractive and viable for young people. I believe that creativity in the region can act as a gateway to the retention of young people and hope that our cohort of Creative Spaces can begin to engage with young creative and build a lasting impact that entices young people.”

Q) What do you like to do outside of work?

Mia – “I love spending time with my family, partner & pals, specifically my wee niece. I get so much joy from exploring the countryside and swimming or paddle boarding when weather permits me to do so!”

Alice – “Most weekends I’ll be visiting friends or family, they are scattered up and down the UK so that takes some time. I’ve got two dogs, so I like to take them on walks and there are so many beautiful beaches nearby. I like gardening, we’re watching our first lot of potatoes and onions grow in our vegetable patch which is exciting. Lastly, I love food so I spend a lot of my time cooking and baking.”

Emma – “ love to cook when I have the chance! I also love to discover new craft beers, hit me up with recommendations.”

Morgan – “When I’m not working I like to work through my to-be-read/to-be-watched list, get out in the car and visit the Lake District or the Borders, spend time with my little sister, and combat burnout by taking ridiculously long naps!”

Q) What are you hoping to get out of Creative Spaces?

Mia – “I hope to make some great connections within the team & assist them through the CS programme. I can’t wait to showcase the work that we do to a wider audience across D&G in order to inspire young creatives across the region and promote D&G as a viable option for young creatives wanting to develop their practice.”

Alice – “I’m looking forward to planning and working on some exciting projects. I’m hoping to meet a network of other young creatives in the region. Also, I’d like to learn as much as I can about marketing and how to run a creative business.”

Emma – “I hope to help at least one young person to find a creative outlet in their hometown.”

Morgan – “Beyond hoping to develop the skills and interests I am coming into the programme with, as well as discovering some new ones, I have a keen interest in engaging with the wider region, hoping to incorporate the “G” in D&G as much as possible. I also hope to foster a link with the local schools to promote CS to local young people who are looking for a future in the creative sector.”

Q) And finally, what’s your Stove Cafe order?

Mia – “It’s definitely an extra crispy bacon sandwich on chia bread & a decaf tea with oat milk or a big glass of water (because hydration is key).”

Alice – “A flat white or an iced coffee depending on how I’m feeling. Food wise, either a bacon sandwich or some form of toastie.”

Emma – “Vegan toastie, side salad or salt and vinegar crisps and coconut latte.”

Morgan – “Recently, it’s been a bacon roll and a small caramel latte.”

Categories
Opportunities Project Updates

Grow Your Own Event

Grants for up to £500 Available Unexpected Garden – Stranraer

Dandelion is a national community food growing initiative that is coming to Stranraer. It is part of the UK wide UnBoxed Festival; a UK wide celebration of creativity taking place in 2022. The project will see a new Unexpected Garden and event space created on the harbour front with the local community that brings together food, culture, ideas, music and technology, driven by the concept of sow, grow, share.

Our ‘Grow Your Own Event’ grants have been created to give the local community the chance to host their own events in Stranraer’s Unexpected Garden. We will offer groups and individuals up to £500 to programme their own event which should meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • Improving wellbeing (physical and mental)
  • Enabling community participation in the arts
  • Promoting equality
  • Enabling participation in physical activity
  • Responding to the climate emergency and promoting sustainability
  • Increasing community access to the garden
  • Promoting the regeneration of Stranraer

Please note that we cannot accept applications promoting a specific religious faith or political party

Please consider the following when thinking about your event:

About the Garden

The Unexpected Garden in Stranraer can be found on the waterfront in Stranraer situated between Burns House and Ulsterbus. It is a community space where people can come together to grow food, take part in workshops, relax or attend one of our many events leading up to Harvest Festival in September.

  • The garden has a 6.5m x 6.5m stretch tent that can provide shelter for events and workshops.
  • We can provide folding tables and chairs as well as a battery powered PA and AMP system for live music and background music
  • We do not have any power supply to the garden so any power requirements will need to be brought in externally.
  • The garden and performance space is on the ground level with no stair access.
  • There is an accessible toilet on site for those who need it
  • Events must take place by 31 August 2022.

How to Apply:

Please complete our short application form to apply:

TO APPLY NOW, CLICK HERE

Deadline for applications: 30 June 2022

Alternatively, you can ask for a copy of the questions and submit a video, voice note or word document. Please email [email protected] for more information.

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