Coalfield Communities Landscape Partnership Vision
"Thriving Coalfield Communities will share in the benefits of a
renewed and resilient landscape, welcoming visitors from afar
to celebrate their unique heritage, promote stewardship of the
land and create new opportunities to enjoy the landscape,
shaped by understanding of the past and needs of the future."
We hope that you find the information interesting and informative. If you are interested in any of the projects and want to get involved then please let us know.
We are happy to share with you a special issue about our launch day and the launch of the “Ploughing up our Past” project!
We have been working throughout Covid 19 and have made steady progress.
Our launch day on 9 July showcased some of our projects and the partnerships we are forging with external organisations to deliver a more collaborative approach to a greener, safer and sustainable future for East Ayrshire’s coalfield communities. We had activities at Dunaskin, Dalmellington Community Centre and at Loch Doon with over 100 visitors across the three locations.
Dunaskin
 Credit Dave Hancox
What a great start to a fun filled day with the Deputy Provost Sally Cogley and EAC CEO Eddie Fraser officially opening the new facilities at the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group’s (ARPG) site at Dunaskin.
Depute Provost Sally Cogley commemorated the event with a few words. The new toilet facilities are the first part of the ARPG project to reach completion, with the second ambitious phase including a new storage facility for the group’s collection of railway engines, carriages and memorabilia.
With Gavin Steele the Chairperson of ARGP giving the guests the guided tour, the party headed off for the first train ride of the day. An extra special ‘toot’ was given to Elena Whitham MSP in celebration of her birthday.
Great to see so many happy faces on the train!
 Credit Dave Hancox
The Depute Provost Sally Cogley thanked everyone: “I would like to thank everyone for a wonderful day on Friday at Dunaskin, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and would love to come back another day. The event was very well organised and informative. My family had a great time and they would like to express their thanks also.”
Dalmellington
 Credit Dave Hancox
Dalmellington Community Centre
The Cumnock Tryst
Sir James McMillan greeted the Depute Provost, Eddie Fraser and visitors to the premiere of their short film ‘The Moss and the Cosmos’, a beautiful exploration of East Ayrshire’s people and place.
The Tryst showcased this piece of musical theatre that reflects the social history, landscape, the people and places revealing the heritage of the coalfield communities. The Tryst collated over one hundred photographs, films, texts and sound recording from across the region.
Film maker Kim Beveridge and composer Alistair MacDonald in collaboration created an exhilarating piece of cinematography.
Rufus Sullivan was delighted:
“The stand out moment for us was getting to screen our new film to a live audience. This was The Cumnock Tryst’s first in person event in 18 months and having people join us again to see some of the creative output from our project was a delight.
"It was also an opportunity for us to engage with some of the other projects as part of the partnership and very useful for us to make those face-to-face connections”.
Coalfields Regeneration Trust
Connecting Communities
Cumnock History Group
Butter making with the Cumnock History Group was a great success attracting people of all ages.
Delving into the history of the place names was represented by Eila Williamson and Thomas Clancy, it was great to see so many people interested in this project.
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The Lost Villages Project
Arthur McIvor blogged:
“What was remarkable about the day was the steady flow of folk coming in to share their memories of growing up and their lives in East Ayrshire – stories that the project aims to capture and archive for posterity.
"The banter coming across from different folk telling their stories was a joy and a privilege to facilitate, listen to and engage with. People were not only warmly willing to share their memories, they also brought in artefacts, newspaper clippings and photographs, and provided contacts and leads for our research.”
They also said: “After such a tough period with Covid-19 it was heartening to meet people in the community as well as other colleagues involved in the wonderfully diverse range of projects that constitute the CCLP initiative – albeit behind masks and
under social distancing rules”. Read their full blog post here.
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Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere
Marie McNulty from Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere was there representing the Sense of place project. Marie was happy to be engaging with the community again.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran
NHS Ayrshire and Arran Heath Improvement officer Sandra Hall was on site to provide advice and support to community members.
East Ayrshire Woodlands and Active Travel Hub
East Ayrshire Woodland's Bruce Davidson and one of his apprentices kindly volunteered their time tobuild the Gazebo to house Active Travel Hub represented by Fay Podger who offered bicycle security marking. She wrote:
“ We thought it was a worthwhile event and we’re excited about the prospect of a new mountain biking facility in the area”
Picture credits: Dave Hancox (Active Travel Hub)
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Mountain bike track development
The exciting prospect of a mountain bike site local to Dalmellington gathered further momentum with several cycling enthusiasts popping by on the day to watch this Youtube footage produced by Dave Hancox on behalf of Councillor Drew Filson. If you haven’t seen this footage it is a must and is only the tip of the iceberg. Please get in touch if you would like to be more involved with the Dalmellington Parish Development Trust.
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Loch Doon - Roundhouse Café
 Credit Dave Hancox
East Ayrshire Woodlands, EADHA, East Ayrshire Council’s Outdoor Learning Support Team and East Ayrshire Leisure ran walks and (a taster course in Geocaching led by Jim Murphy) around Loch Doon.
They commented:
“The overall atmosphere was really good and Ness Glen was looking fab”.
 Credit Dave Hancox
 Credit Dave Hancox
The Conservation Volunteers team is responsible for the School Green Gym and ran the successful bug hunts on the day. They wanted to highlight
“the enthusiasm from the children when they started to identify cuckoo spit and the care they took with the insects they handled. An adult who was in their mid-50s stating that they had never seen a grasshopper before and was delighted with the experience”.
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 Credit The Conservation Volunteers
Safety and fun
Fire and Rescue Scotland provided guidance on wildfires and CPR training and RNLI with Vincent McWhirter advised on water safety.
Shire Housing's Alan Thomas had a stand in the Roundhouse while The Zone offered games and activities for children.
  Credit Dave Hancox
Seedbombs and stones
Coalfields Environment
Initiative held a
seedbomb making workshop and Jenna
Cains from Galloway
and Southern Ayrshire
Biosphere was there to
promote their project
and lead fun stone activities,they wrote a post about the day on their GSAB website. They commented "we loved the day, it offered us networking opportunities for the project partners and we were very happy to finally engage with people again face to face and not just on screen."
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 Credit GSA Biosphere (3 pictures)
Community Feedback & Thanks
Visitors thoroughly enjoyed their Day in the Landscape, particular highlights were the train ride at Dunaskin, the Cumnock Tryst’s “the Moss & the Cosmos”, the climbing wall, and most of them had never been to Loch Doon before and will come back. They thought it was a worthwhile event and were also excited about the prospect of a new mountain biking facility in the area.
Vibrant Communities took time from their busy summer schedule to provide fun for the younger generation by contributing a bouncy castle. Danielle Winters and her colleague volunteered on the day to guide visitors to the buses…. It was a long day for the girls and their help was greatly appreciated.
A very big thank you to Police Scotland who went above and beyond on the day to guarantee everyone’s safety at all three events. You may have seen Sergeant Hurren and his team whizzing about.
Adrienne Mc Geechan, Tourism Sector Development Officer, was an amazing help with the track and trace. Having Adrienne on site enabled groups to forge links and network with other departments within EAC. Focusing on Tourism and upcoming events, Adrienne has offered guidance to the Cumnock Tryst.
We also want to thank all the volunteers for their precious help!
The whole event was a true representation of the collaboration
between stakeholders and partners all providing and working to
deliver the ethos of an inclusive, diverse and vibrant East Ayrshire.
We look forward to the next events organised by our partners and to sharing the evolution of the projects.
 ‘the voice of nature loudly cried, and many a message from the skies, that something in us never dies’ - Robert Burns 1790
Ploughing up our Past (Cumnock History Group)
 Credit Elaine Stewart CRT
We were very happy to attend the launch of the project on Sunday 25 July at the Cumnock Heritage Centre with Elaine Stewart from Coalfields Regeneration Trust to connect communities!
It was very sunny and a lovely day.
 There is an amazing collection of farm vehicles and equipment in the Cumnock Heritage Centre. You can also find Cumnock Pottery and Mauchlineware, an old police station and more.
They ran a butter making workshop and Carol Mochan MSP joined Elaine to make and eat some butter (one-handed for Carol!)
Cumnock History Group is researching farms in the parishes of
Auchinleck, Ochiltree, New Cumnock and Old Cumnock and would like to meet anyone with a family link to a farm in these parishes. If you have photos, maps and memorabila or if you would like to find out more and get involved then please contact
farming@cumnockhistorygroup.org.
Their website: https://farminginthecumnockarea.blogspot.com/
Join their Facebook group
There are plenty of exciting projects to get involved with, either to help or to take part in. Please go to our website and complete the online form and you will be linked up with the projects you are interested in.
If you haven't already done so, why not sign up with StayConnected's Coalfield Community Landscape Partnership topic to make sure you get our regular newsletters and bulletins
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