Friday 23 June 2023
Welcome to Community, your Dumfries and Galloway community bulletin.
We are always keen to hear of any positive stories about things that are happening in your community and would like to feature them in Community – please email us at communitybulletin@dumgal.gov.uk and one of our reporters will get back to you.
 A to Z of Dumfries and Galloway Council
B is for… Bloomin’ Gorgeous
This is Brian. We are not sure Brian needs an introduction, he is so well known – and for good reason.
As one of our Streetscene operatives, Brian is the supervisor of horticulture for Dumfries and Galloway Council. He works with a highly trained team to manage the growing, planting and maintenance of flower beds across Dumfries, plus manages the polytunnels where the plants are stored, grown, and propagated for the whole region. And he supports local communities with planning, designing, and planting of new gardens and spaces.
If it’s flowering and beautiful, Brian and his team have no doubt been involved!
Brian highlighted that they currently have 200 baskets to fill in a week, with each one taking 18 plants. That means before a cup of tea is even thought about, 3,600 plants being decoratively planted for the bees and locals to enjoy – impressive!
“We plant differently now than what we used to. We use more perennial plants, which is more sustainable and allows the plants to thrive where they are planted. That way they grow stronger and return each year. It’s easy to plant an area to look beautiful while being environmentally friendly when you know how.”
Brian has worked for the council, in his role as a gardener, for…wait for it…45 years. That’s 16,425 days working for Dumfries and Galloway Council doing something that he is enthusiastic about and takes immense pride in.
What is equally as impressive is that Brian and his two colleagues Michael and Willie have worked together as a team for a collective 138 years! With their colleague Karen working alongside them for 18 years…it must be bloomin’ fun work making our towns look so good each year!
Best part of the job for Brian: “I like working with different groups to create spaces that are both beautiful and good for the environment, working with schools to educate young people to get hands-on with planting and explaining why this is important to the world around us. But mostly I like putting smiles on people faces; we are lucky to receive so much positive feedback with the work we do, and it’s appreciated.”
Brian, you, your fervour for flowers and your commitment to your role are truly remarkable – our towns look amazing thanks to you and your colleagues.
 Armed Forces Celebrated
Armed Forces Day is a chance to show support for the people who make up the Armed Forces community – from currently serving troops to Service families, veterans and cadets.
The UK Armed Forces defend the UK and its interests, and work around the world promoting peace, delivering aid, tackling drug smugglers, providing security, and fighting terrorism.
You can find out more about what they are doing at home and around the world by visiting the official sites of the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.
Armed Forces Day is on Saturday 24 June and a number of events take place in the week preceding it, starting with flag raising across our region on Monday 19 June.
The Council supports the Armed Forces in a number of ways, including the Armed Forces Covenant, additional leave for military service and training, laying wreaths at local war memorials on Remembrance Sunday, a designated Armed Forces Champion, support for Dumfries Veterans’ Garden, grants and maintenance for local war memorials, and conferring Honorary Freeman status on Legion Scotland and to The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
An Armed Forces Day parade will take place in Dumfries town centre on Saturday 24 June, starting at 11.40am from the entrance to the Loreburne Shopping Centre on the High Street, marching to the Plainstanes. The event is expected to end by 12.30pm.
The Parade will be led by a band, followed by retired and serving armed forces personnel.
An Armed Forces Day parade will also take place in the Wigtownshire Club Rugby Field, Stranraer on Saturday, 1 July at 11am.
Stalls and displays will be on show between 10am and 4pm, including food stalls, arts and crafts stalls, military display vehicles, highland and country dancing, live music and a car boot arena. Free event of all the family.
 Investing In Our Roads
There is a lot happening in Dumfries and Galloway Council's Roads Service. From increasing our roads service staff, surfacing and dressing our regions roads, and using new technology to repair defects – there's a lot going on.
To strengthen our service, we are recruiting now for roads operatives and senior operatives. We’ve had recruitment drop-in sessions at The Bridge in Dumfries and Barnkirk Depot over the last few weeks that have been very well attended and generated lots of interest.
The level of interest in the roads operative posts remains high, and there is still time to get an application in – the closing date for applications is 29 June 2023.
The surfacing and surface dressing programmes for 2023/24 are well under way across the region. Did you know that when surface dressing, we lay more chips than required? This is so the whole surface is covered and we don’t end up with bare patches.
Have you seen the 20mph skid risk road signs? The speed limit isn't only to stop the chips flying up, or to stop you skidding. It's to protect the new dressing and also so you can help roll the chips into the surface, then we come and sweep up the excess chips. Depending on the weather, you might see us carrying out additional sweeping or dusting to minimise the effect on traffic.
There has been a significant increase in spray injection patching – which is filling potholes by forcing a cold bitumen emulsion into cracks and crevices under high pressure. This is a great value for money technique that lets us get around lots of pot-holes and other problems quickly.
You may have seen a new piece of equipment being trialled recently – a thermal patching unit. A thermal patcher melts the existing road surface and produces a permanent, heat sealed, seamless repair. While not as quick at the spray injection patching, this technique is well suited to residential streets as it can be done in a small operating space.
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 Skating Coach Achieves Level 3 Qualification
Philip Carter, a skating coach for Dumfries and Galloway Council, has achieved his Level 3 qualification in synchronised skating. This qualifications takes a lot of work and dedication, and Philip has managed to achieve this while coaching young people learning to skate for the first time, up to and including taking the first ever Scottish team to enter and win the British Junior title (and then retain it) – as well as taking the first Scottish team to the World Junior Synchronised skating competition.
Philip moved to the region in 1999 to coach ice skating and told us that "The culture of the club and wider community here in Dumfries and Galloway is our superpower, we love the sport and supporting each other to do the best we can every time, I wouldn’t work anywhere else for this reason, this is where I want to be and what I want to do.”
Huge congratulations to you Philip on your qualification and for supporting so many young people to achieve success at all levels.
 Nith Inshore Rescue Fundraiser
You are invited to join Nith inshore Rescue on Sunday 25 June at their plant and flower sale. This will be located in the grounds of the Crichton, next to the church. All money raised from donated plants will go to Nith Inshore Rescue, helping to continue their vital work in the community.
Whether you want to buy, sell or donate, everyone is welcome. You can also hire a table for £15 and you can sell your own plants and crafts.
Please email merchandise@nithrescue.org.uk if you’d like to take part
 Love Parks Week is Coming
Love Parks Week is an annual campaign running from Friday 28 July to Sunday 6 August 2023, organised by Keep Britain Tidy. Across our region and through our communities, we have fantastic open green spaces and we are looking forward to promoting and celebrating them and what happens in them during Love Parks Week 2023.
Our parks and green spaces are fantastic resources that are used for gatherings, picnics, events, play and recreation. We want to make sure parks are accessible and enjoyable to all communities across our region, and we look forward to continuing our work with communities to positively promote and encourage the use of our parks and open green spaces.
Keep an eye on our social media pages to find out more about Love Parks Week 2023. You can also send us stories of how you use the parks and green spaces in our region – you might give someone else a good idea! Send your stories and images to:
communitybulletin@dumgal.gov.uk
 John Paul Jones’s Birthday Celebration
The John Paul Jones Cottage Museum, birthplace of John Paul Jones – Father of the U.S. Navy – will be celebrating the birthday of John on Saturday 8 of July.
Come and visit to enjoy BBQ, drinks and tombola – as well as the Foot Stompin Ceilidh Band, cake, fun and games for all ages. You can even meet some local Navy Cadets.
You are welcome to come to the museum at Arbigland, near Kirkbean, between 12 and 4pm – it will be another fantastic community day filled with great activities for all ages.
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