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The last few months
have been extremely
busy for Creetown
Iniave.
A huge amount of work has
gone into the King Georges
Playing Field Park Project;
ngers crossed we will hear
in the New Year whetherwe have been successful in
raising money to replace the
ageing play equipment.
The wind turbine and micro
hydro schemes are moving
forward and we will publish
a detailed progress report in
the New Year.
The youth workers have been
very busy and a number of
very successful events have
taken place. Aendance
at these events has been
fantasc which goes to
prove just how desperate
the youngsters are to do
things. We plan to take the
youngsters to the pantomime
in Dumfries in December - a
discount on ckets has been
negoated, and Rob Ross
Jnr got us a good deal on a
coach; thanks Robert for that.
However, even with all that,
the trip will cost near to 600
so Creetown Iniave are
chipping in with 300 from
proceeds of the ra e that
the Gem Rock Museum have
been running for us. Many
thanks to Tim and Carolyn
for donang the AmethystGeode.
We hope to announce a
number of other events for
the youngsters in the coming
months.
At last the Creetown Football
Clubs pavilion is being built
- we are doing further work
to support the developmentat Castle Cary Park and we
all look forward to seeing
the building open next year.
Funds raised by our dear
late friend Jim Lupton will
be presented to Creetown
Football Club by his wife
Janee in the next few
weeks. The money was raised
by Jim through his work on
the wonderful detailed and
ornate Clock Tower door Jim
and Archie Mckie made. It
was Jims wishes that the
money raised should go to
Creetown Football Club. It
will be a welcome boost to
the club, and the door a long
lasng legacy to the village.
FERRYN
EWS
LETT
ER
ISSUE 12
Autumn/
Winter2011-12 Creetown Iniave
Youth Photography WinnersLocal photographer Val Horton
ran a Youth Photograpy
Compeon as part of the Day of
the Region events this summer.
The theme of the compeon was
My Creetown, and to the le isthe winning picture in the Junior
secon, taken by Erin Monteith.
Connued on Page 7.
JimL
uptonplayedasgoalie,
picturedhereinthedarks
hirt.
Byre on Church Brae
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Welcome to therst edion ofYouth Hood!
This is the space for
Creetowns youth. They
dont oen get the chance
to communicate with the
rest of the community about
whats going on with them.
So, I gured I should try to
act as the bridge between
their world and yours.
Recap of the summer events:
In July we ran youth photography
workshops and compeons under
the tuion of local photographer Val
Horton, giving children and teensthe chance to get out and about and
explore Creetown through the lens
of a digital camera. This project was
part of the Day of the Region events,
and the photographs were displayed
and judged on Saturday 1st October
in the Waverley Hall.
The standard was very high and all
the entrants were congratulated for
their hard work, each receiving a
cercate and cash prize. The two
winners were Erin Monteith for the
junior entrants and John Sloan for
the senior entrants and the runners
up were Emma McTeir and Megan
Monteith. You can see some of their
winning photographs in this edion
of the Ferry News, on the front pageand on Page 7.
Gala Events:
I havent lived in the local area for
long, but I have quickly learned that
the annual Gala week is a major
community event in Creetowns
calendar. I also couldnt fail to noce
that the youth of the village didnt
have any Gala events specically
tailored for them, so the Gala
commiee kindly suggested the
youth club organise acvies for the
youths to parcipate in. The general
consensus of the children was to
have a fun sports aernoon with lots
of dierent acvies. This event was
on Saturday 6th August in Creetown
Park and we had a great turn out of
young people parcipang in the tug
o war, rounders, football, and the
epic obstacle course!
The young people also wanted
to be included in the Gala Day
on 13th August, so they ran a
tradional games stall in the park
and raised 70 for their youth clubs.Addionally, Chrissie Hill, one of our
youth workers, organised two gala
oats for the young people to make
and dress up for. We had a Grease
oat, complete with the Greased
Lightning car, and the children
dressed up as the T-Birds, Pink Ladies
and Danny and Sandy, and a Wizard
of Oz oat with lots of the local
children dressing up as the well-
known characters from the lm. Weraised 95 and came 2nd and 3rd!
We have some very creave young
people in the village and in light
of this, we organised two arts and
cras making aernoons on 1st and
2nd August in the Waverley Hall.
The young people got to use their
creave skills to make arts and cras
to sell on Gala day. I am hoping
these events will not only provide
the young people with fun acviesto learn new skills, but will also
give them a feeling of community
inclusion and might encourage other
children to join youth club.
Everyone knows young people have
a lot of spare energy and somemes
pent up frustraon. At youth club
we try to encourage young people
to culvate their enthusiasm in a
construcve manner and as such,
young people had the chance toaend combined Kickboxing, Fung-
Fu and Self Defense sessions for a
three month block with maral arts
leader Kenneth Mckeand.
Youth Update -
Youth Hood
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Autumn Events:
Halloween is fast becoming a popular
autumn event in the UK, so this year
the sta and volunteers of Creetown
Youth Club decided to spook it upby holding two scarecrow making
arts and cras days during the
October holidays.
This was open to all young people
in the village to come along and
make their own themed scarecrow.
However, we also encouraged all
members of the local community
to get into the spirit(!) of things by
creang their own scarecrow and
displaying them outside their houses.
We followed this by holding a youth
Halloween party in the Waverley Hall
29th October, encouraging everyone
to come along dressed up and bring
their scarecrows.
Peter Foster from the Galloway
Gazee kindly agreed to judge the
compeon, resulng in 1st place
Britney Hill, 2nd place Gordie andEvie Paerson, 3rd place Aimie
Brown, Group Eort winner Kevin
Ball and team and Family Eort
winner The Monteith Family.
Home-made spook-tacular cakes,
pumpkin soup, worm jelly and
witches eyeball punch, along with
party music and games, made for
a fun me had by all. We were
so pleased with the turn out and
managed to raise 125 for the youthof the village.
Thank you so much to all the local
businesses, organisaons and
everyone who donated trophies,
cash and prizes for the ra e we
couldnt have done it without you.
Lets hope next years scarecrow
compeon and party will be even
beer!
Youth Community TreePlanng:
As you will probably be aware,
currently one of the main community
projects in Creetown is the
regeneraon of the park.
The members of the youth club
wanted to become involved in
helping to shape the park into an
environment where everyone would
like to be.
The junior youth club spread seeds
and planted fruit trees in November,
and the senior youth club will be
planng saplings in the near future.
The young people are hoping to
raise some funds for their youth
club by asking for some sponsorship
money for helping with a worthwhile
community project. Please help our
young people to create a beer park
environment for you.
If you have any comments,ideas or quesons aboutYouth Club or about anyevents, issues or acviesaecng young people,please dont hesitate tocontact me on 01671 820654or [email protected].
Amy-Dee Tighe,Lead Youth Worker,
Creetown Youth Club
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Creetown Silver Bands annualChristmas Concert will be heldin the Bandhall on Thursday15th December at 7.30pm.Both the senior and the
training band will perform.Entrance is free. There will bea ra e, and tea/coee andmince pies will be provided.
Other band dates are:
25th Nov at Wigtown
4th Dec at Gatehouse
13th Dec at Creetown
16th Dec at the Isle of Whithorn18th Dec at Kirkcowan Church
23rd Dec at the Cally Palace Hotel
24th Dec at Newton Stewart andCreetown
CREETOWN SILVER BAND
Youth Hood continued
Weekly Sunday Service: 11.30am
Minister Rev P. Aiken
01671 403361Church Sale - Sat 3 Dec, Waverly
Hall, 2pm
Watchnight Service - Sat 24 Dec,11.30pm
Christmas Day Service - 11am
Kirkmabreck Parish
Church Services
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Above is an old, and not very clear, photo of thequaintly named Dawson City Inn. Does anyoneknow anything about it?
The Local History Group
It isnt all talk at the History Group! Things get doneas well. One of the projects has been to review theguided walk round Creetown rst produced by JohnCutland about twelve years ago.
Its surprising how things you could nd a few yearsago can no longer be seen, or how easy it becomesto say: Why did we miss that out?.
Could you, for example, say where an old poorhouse used to stand; or where the TemperanceHotel was; or where the Town Hall was; or the oldpolice staon; or where there are sll metal brackets
for holding paran street lamps; or whether youcan nd the remains of an old pack-horse bridge?
And why is Adamson Square so called?
Hopefully, if we get our facts right, a revised leaetmight be ready for the Spring to guide you on aninteresng walk round Creetown.
Creetown Heritage MuseumThe museum has closed now aer a very evenul,but dicult, year. In view of the present economicclimate it was not surprising that visitor numbersshould be a bit down on last years, but the eortsput in by everyone concerned have more than osetthe problems we have faced in keeping the museumrunning and nancially viable.
Special menon just has to be made of Val Johnsonand Muriel Palmer in organising coee mornings,producing the Creetown Cookbook which is selling
very well and increasing the range of goods forsale in the museum.
Archie McKie has taken over as chairman and ispung his own stamp on the way things should goand is leading by example regarding the amount ofwork he is already doing. Not surprising then, thatwe got a good report from VisitScotland followingour bi-annual quality inspecon. Parcularlypleasing though is the Cercate of Nominaonreceived from the Stewartry Celebraon ofAchievement Awards 2011 scheme. With several
developments to be tackled over the winter, we canlook forward with condence to opening again in2012. Andrew Macdonald
p4
The Way We Were. . .
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The Oystercatcher isprobably the most
recognisable commonwader in the UK.
It is a large black and white bird,with a prominent long orange bill,and stout pink legs. It is a veryvocal wader and its `piping callcan oen be heard at night as itcan feed eciently in the dark.
Wintering populaons onWigtown Bay have been quitestable since 1984, but did show
a slight decline in the later1990`s in line with the naonalshort-term trend which wasenough for the oystercatcher tobe placed on the Amber list ofBirds of Conservaon Concern.Typical peak numbers on the Bayare around 2500 and are rarelyover the threshold for naonalimportance of 3600. However,the Solway is internaonallyimportant for overwinteringoystercatchers, typically around29, 000 on 10 sites around theSolway including Wigtown Bay.
Oystercatchers have the strongestbill of the waders enabling themto feed on shellsh that otherwaders could not, such as cocklesand mussels. Oystercatchers havedeveloped two main methodsfor opening these bivalves: Theyeither hammer through the
shell, in which case their bills areblunted and chisel-like, or they
stab into the shell and prise thetwo halves apart, in which casethey have longer more pointedbills. The oystercatcher`s beakis, however, not necessarilyconstant, and is capable ofexceponal growth. Bluntedbeaks from shellsh feeding mayagain become more pointed ifinland feeding on earthworms isemployed. This would seem to bea very unusual and useful survivaltrait. When shellsh numbers aredepleted due to severe winters or
overshing, Oystercatchers willtake to feeding in coastal elds onearthworms helping to preservepopulaons in hard mes.
The prey is oen located byprobing or somemes found bysight. When a cockle is locatedit is `levered out and very oencarried to a pool to open andItems of food are oen washedbefore eang. Lugworms and
ragworms are also located byprobing, and there is somemesa brief tug of war before the birdgets its meal. Tellins are foundand opened very quickly witha thrusng acon of the beak.Tellins move deeper in the mudin response to colder winter daysand the long Oystercatcher`s beakensures that they can sll reachthis food source where someother waders could not.
I have also seen Oystercatcherswith part of their heads
underwater as the de was goingout, probably locang cockles.Their long bill enables them todo this, and perhaps get a headstart in the feeding race. It isprobably also a tacc for locangbivalves with their shells partlyagape underwater, lter feeding,in which case they may be easierto open.
A pecking order is apparent infeeding groups, with one birdoen chasing o another just asthe rst bird nds or appears to
nd a food item. There seems tobe less `squabbling when moreof the mudats are exposed.
Due to their ecient feedingmethods oystercatchers canquickly aain their daily foodrequirement, therefore leavingmore me for roosng, preening,etc, which helps to keep the birdsin good condion.
This is evident when carrying
out wetland bird surveys onWigtown Bay. The Oystercatchersare always the rst to arrive attheir tradional high de roosts,and are also the last species todisperse from the roost to theirfeeding grounds. Roosng birdscan oen be seen standing on oneleg with their heads tucked undertheir wings over their backs,facing into the wind. As the de
overtakes them, they oen lazilyhop one legged ahead of it.Peter Robinson
N a t u r e & W i l d l i f eTHE OYSTERCATCHER - AN ADAPTABLE WADER
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Elecroshing in Moneypool Burn
As part of the regeneraon of the park,
Biologists Jamie Ribbons and Neil Dalrymple
from the Galloway Fisheries Trust were
invited to Creetown to hold an interacve
educaonal session on the dierent types of
sh living in Moneypool Burn.
To start the day o, Jamie gave an informave talk to
Creetowns Primary School P3-5 class to teach the pupils
about the amazing life cycle of salmon. The class then
headed down to the park where Jamie and Neil gave an
electroshing demonstraon. Jamie explained that this
technique is harmless to the sh and is used by the Trust
to monitor sh species and numbers in water courses.
During the demonstraon several salmon parr, trout and
an eel were found in the burn and everyone was giventhe opportunity to view the sh and idenfy them.
Jamie explained about the importance of a healthy water
habitat for the sh and the work being undertaken by
Kirkmabreck Community Council and Creetown Iniave
to enhance Moneypool Burn by reducing over-shading
of the water from excessive tree growth. This project
is supported by Solway Heritage and Shanks Waste
Soluons through the Landll Communies Fund and
D&G Council Biodiversity Partnership.
Community Tree Planng Project
On the 20th November, Kirkmabreck Community
Council and Creetown Iniave asked volunteers in the
community to come forward and help plant 420 saplings
in the park.
An applicaon to the Woodland Trust by Creetown
Iniave earlier in the year was successful and the
community has been awarded a pack of saplings whichwill bring year-round colour to the park landscape.
Community Orchard and Wildfower Garden
Volunteers and members of Creetowns Junior Youth
Group joined forces this month to help create a
community orchard and wildower garden in the
park. Kirkmabreck Community Council and the Balloch
Community Woodland Project donated a large selecon
of apple, plum, cherry and pear trees which were planted
by the volunteers.
An area of ground was also prepared and sown with
wildower seeds which were specically blended with
plant variees that will support bird, bee and buery
populaons. The wildower seeds were purchased
through funding Creetown Iniave successfully
obtained from the CSV SNH Biodiversity Fund.
The aim of this project was to enhance the parkenvironment for the benet of wildlife and the
community. Next year once the garden area begins
to come alive, there will be an abundance of nave
wildowers which will support the natural ecosystem and
it will also be a beauful space in which the community
can enjoy.
The fruit trees will provide pollen in the spring which
will benet certain insect species. In late summer and
autumn, the trees will produce fruit which we hope both
wildlife and the community can enjoy!
King George V Playing Fields Regeneraon Project
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In August we ran a successful Flower Fesval
to which we invited local organisaons to tell
us about themselves, with the aid of oral
arrangements.
In this way we were able to make the fesval a truly
community event. One spin-o from the fesval has
been the producon of a small booklet which gives
informaon on groups and acvies within the Creetown
area; this was distributed to homes in Creetown in
September. In the summer months we provided teas
for visitors aer our morning service, and from October
onwards we oer a soup lunch once a month. This gives
the congregaon an opportunity to chat and enjoy
fellowship together.
Autumn is driing slowly into winter and this marks the
start of a new Guild programme. The Guild is raising
money this year for two important causes Mission
Aviaon Fellowship and World Mission Council which
focuses on coexistence in Israel/Palesne. The money
raised will contribute to the Guilds naonal appeal and
raise a substanal amount for these parcular projects.
The Guild are delighted to take part in this naonal
programme of giving to such worthy causes; it underlinesthe prominent role the Guild plays as one of Scotlands
leading charitable organisaons.
Christmas is round the corner and, like many other
churches across the country, we are taking part in the
annual shoebox appeal. Many thanks to all who are
supporng this worthwhile project.
With best wishes and prayers,
Kirkmabreck Parish Church
News from the Church
JohnSloanswinning
photooftheoldmill.
Youth Photo Comp- connued from front page...
As part of Creetowns Day of the Region acvies I was asked to become involved with a
Photographic Compeon, says Val Horton.
This led to workshops involving some of Creetowns young
people. On four evenings spread over two weeks in July
varying numbers of youngsters aended and enjoyed using
the cameras which were provided by Creetown Iniave.
Some of them also borrowed the cameras and took pictures
in their own me.
Several hundred pictures were taken in total... There was
a considerable dierence in ages, but Im sure youll agreethat they all worked extremely hard on this project and all
their entries show great enthusiasm for the various subjects
and great promise.
There were 25 entries, and from them a Junior (under 12)
and Senior (12+) winner and runner-up were chosen. The
winner of the Senior Youth Photography Compeon was
John Sloan, and you can see his winning phototo the right.
Creetown MarketEVERY 2ND SUNDAY OF THE MONTH
commencing March 2012
10am unl 3pm
at King George V Park, Creetown, DG8 7HZ
2012 will see the introducon of our very own
Creetown Sunday Market showcasing the best of
our regions quality producers, arsts and makers
Stalls will include outdoor bred pork, highland
beef, lamb, smoked produce, bread, cakes,preserves, dog treats, jewellery, herb cosmecs,
chocolates, gis, and much more...
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To contribute to the Ferry News Letter, please contact Carolyn Stephensonon 01671 820216 or [email protected]
Your input is vital so please do get in touch with any news, views, events or advertising.
THE NEXT ISSUE IS DUE TO BE PUBLISHED IN MARCH
Printing the Ferry News is just oneway of expressing our commitmentt th iti k i
CRAFT AND
PRODUCE FAYREFREE ADMISSIONShop local, shop smart, shop at the Creetown Fayre
Sunday 11 December 2011
10am unl 4pmat the Gem Rock Museum
Chain Road, Creetown, DG8 7HJ
Want to nd a unique gi or a Christmas dinner with a
dierence? Come and buy from local arsts, makers and
producers...
Stalls include Christmas trees, jewellery, painngs,wood carvings, herb cosmecs, handmade books,knitwear, cards, fragranced gis, candles, fruit andveg, butchers meat, bread, cakes, honey, preserves
and hampers, plus much more...
The Gem Rock tearoom and gi shop will also be open all day andthere will be free admission to the Museum for all customers on
Sunday 11 December.
(The Gem Rock Museum, tearoom and gi shop is open seven days, 10am-4pm, unl Thursday 22
December inclusive)