Friday 13 January 2023
Welcome to Community, your Dumfries and Galloway community bulletin. We'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year, and wish you all the best for 2023.
As always, if you have any positive stories about things that are happening in your community and would like to see them featured in Community – please email us at communitybulletin@dumgal.gov.uk and one of our reporters will get back to you.
 Council Launches Flood Recovery Support Page
Dumfries and Galloway Council has set up a dedicated one-stop-shop webpage for households and businesses affected by the severe flooding that took place across the region in late December 2022.
This webpage is the starting point for anyone affected by the recent severe flooding.
It collates information that people will find useful in one place, from our Council and its partners – so it’s easy to find. We will update it regularly and post on our social media channels when we do.
The webpage details grants and support for householders and tenants, help with council tax and housing benefit, support for businesses, the availability of bulky uplifts, and flooding information and advice from the Council and other organisations.
There are also sections on the scale of the flood and what our Council, working closely with its partners, is doing to help businesses and householders.
The dedicated webpage can be found at https://www.dumgal.gov.uk/Flood-Recovery-Support and via our Council’s main Flood information page.
 Cost-of-Living Help for Dumfries and Galloway Households
Food is one of the most important issues being affected by cost-of-living increases. Partners have been working on food sharing arrangements for a number of years now, and have developed an active Regional Food Sharing Network as well as local groups.
There are a number of things you can consider to help with the impact providing food can have for your household.
The way we buy food is important – many supermarkets reduce the price of foods towards the end of the day because it’s at its sell buy date – so perhaps changing the time of shopping means you can take advantage of that, and you’ll be helping to reduce food waste.
Avoiding wasting food is not only good for our purses but it’s good for the environment too. In Scotland, we waste over 988,000 tonnes of food and drink every year and there’s a Government commitment to reduce food waste by 33 per cent by 2025.
Helpful tips to save money and reduce waste:
If you are struggling to meet the costs of meals, don’t be afraid to ask for some help – there are benefits and grants to support families and children in particular – Cost of Living DG - Families and Young People (dumgal.gov.uk) And there is support right across our region from food banks – all confidential – Food Banks - Dumfries and Galloway Council (dumgal.gov.uk)
If you are able to make donations to help others during this time, most local supermarkets have collection points and they highlight what kind of donations are currently needed; or they have a system where you can pay for particular items. Financial donations are also welcome by food banks to support their work and/or you could offer to volunteer. It’s rewarding and for those seeking employment, it can build up great experience and contacts, and help get qualifications to move on to other things.
Early Learning and Childcare, and School Registration for August 2023
Early learning and childcare
Early learning and childcare settings offer education and childcare to children up to school age. They can be operated by the council, private businesses, voluntary organisations or childminders.
Eligible two-year-olds and all three- and four-year-olds may apply to have up to 1,140 hours of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) a year. 1,140 hours is roughly the same amount of time as primary school hours when the hours are taken over term time.
Parent/carers will soon receive a letter and registration form for children due to start funded Early Learning Childcare in academic year August 2023 to July 2024.
School enrolment for infant beginners
Children in Scotland usually start school between the ages of four years six months and five years six months. All children who are four years old at the start of the school year can defer and start primary one the following year. Parents are asked to attend their catchment school to request a place at either their catchment school or to request a place at a non-catchment school for their child(ren).
These forms are available either on the Council’s website at https://www.dumgal.gov.uk/article/15241/School-places or by contacting the catchment school. Details of catchment schools can be found on the Council’s website (www.dumgal.gov.uk). Please include your child's birth certificate and proof of residence.
You can find out more information about the enrolment process from your catchment primary school.
A New Addition to Robert Burns House Collection
A significant permanent addition has been made to the collection at Robert Burns House, Dumfries – just in time for Burns Night. A two-volume set of poetry by Robert Burns "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect" (1793) has been transferred to the museum’s care through the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme.
Burns distributed copies of these books of poetry "among a few Great Folks whom I respect, & a few Little Folks whom I love." The volume, which is now on display in Burns House, is dedicated to one such friend, Margaret Elizabeth Fintry, the wife of Burns’ patron, Robert Graham, the 12th Laird of Fintry. Burns wrote in affectionate terms about Margaret, wishing that "…every child of yours…find such a FRIEND as...I have found in you." Robert Burns also praised the Grahams of Fintry for their "goodness to me which has been generous and noble."
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New Year Active Inspiration
Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Active Communities programme delivers a range of activities or clubs that will encourage you to be more active, meet new people, do something new and have fun.
Vicky Wright MBE surprised participants by taking part in the Total Body Tone class at Leswalt recently. Now retired, she brought her gold Olympic medal with her as added inspiration for the other class participants. Vicky, from Stranraer, won her Olympic Gold medal in 2022 as part of the British Curling Team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The group loved seeing her and they were very impressed with the weight of the medal. Vicky told us she really enjoyed the class, too.
Active Communities runs activity classes and walking groups that allow the largest range of people to become more active and meet new people. The groups are a supportive and welcoming way for you to start to enjoy the many benefits of being physically active.
There are a range of weekly classes and walks available across Dumfries & Galloway – you never know who you might meet.
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