A feasibility study by Niki Inglis on behalf Dalry Community Council and GCAT

A feasibility study by Dr Stephen Connelly, on behalf of Dalry Community Council and GCAT

The Glenkens Hub has now completed three years of delivery to end 2025, funded by the Glenkens & District Community Fund through the Glenkens and District Trust and Foundation Scotland, and the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership Scheme.

2025 has been another year of effective delivery of the Glenkens & District Community Action Plan priorities. Frontline delivery projects have been consolidated and evolved to deliver excellent outcomes for Glenkens residents, despite the extremely challenging external context of restricted funding landscape and limited available public sector support.

Evaluation of the Glenkens Skills and Jobs Fair on 30th September 2025 at Dalry School.

Report highlighting the apparent lack of strategy behind the proposals with respect to rural depopulation, and asks why other proposals such as reductions to senior management and rationalisation of the four Dumfries High Schools don't seem to be being considered in these difficult times. 

South of Scotland Enterprise have published a new study identifying the vast potential opportunities available from onshore wind through community benefits for the communities of the South of Scotland.

SOSE have partnered with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) to draft a new Community Wealth Building Framework which examines how to increase local economic benefits from renewable energy.

This paper explores the future of rural education in the context of the Glenkens community, highlighting findings from the 2024 CoDeL report and outlining practical recommendations for national and local policymakers.

Life and Land in the Glenkens was commissioned to reflect and amplify voices within our communities, through case studies and a fresh look at life in the Glenkens from a local young journalist.

2024 was another excellent year for delivery by GCAT, albeit in an extremely challenging external context. We are cemented as a key anchor organisation for the area, with a vision of making the Glenkens an excellent place to live for people of all ages.

Year 2 report from the Glenkens Community Spaces Network.

A report on the second year of delivery of the Glenkens Hub.

2024 has been another year of effective delivery of the Glenkens & District Community Action Plan priorities. Frontline delivery projects have been consolidated and evolved to deliver excellent outcomes for Glenkens residents, despite the extremely challenging external context of the cost-of-living crisis and a restricted funding landscape.

A presentation from Community Development Lens (CoDeL) looking at the links between education and the sustainability of rural communities, and the need for local education hub or centre of excellence.

This report reviews the links between education and the sustainability of rural communities. The review focuses on opportunities and challenges for educational provision in the Glenkens, a dynamic and engaged rural community in Dumfries and Galloway (D&G).

Fiona Smith and Sarah Ade, representatives of the Glenkens Community Action Plan Steering Group, and Helen Keron, GCAT Executive Manager, met Gillian Brydson, Director of Education, Skills and Community Wellbeing and Ingrid Gemmell, Stewartry Ward Officer, on Tuesday 8th October 2024.

The Education and Learning event held in the Glenkens in July 2024 catalysed a very useful meeting between the CAP Steering Group and Dr Gillian Brydson, Director of the Dumfries and Galloway Education, Skills and Community Wellbeing deptartment.

Galloway Glens supported a Glenkens Men’s Shed project to make a replica of the famous Balmaclellan Mirror. The event on the 22nd August 2021, took place in the Smiddy car park in Balmaclellan and the casting was carried out by the Mobile Foundry.

The Glenkens Community and Arts Trust (GCAT) hosted an Education and Learning event in the Glenkens on 11th July 2024, on behalf of the Glenkens and District Community Action Plan Steering Group. The event was designed to inform and inspire, in response to the changing nature of education provision in remote-rural Glenkens.