An E ast Ayrshire town is to feature in a new series about what makes Scottish communities tick.
And BBC reporter Ian Hamilton, along with his trusty guide dog Major, will get the lowdown on life in Cumnock.
The area features in a new series of 'My Kind of Town.'
And Ian will hear all about the local efforts to transform the area into the country’s first ‘green’ town.
Surprisingly, two-thirds of Scots do not live in the major cities or the countryside. They live in towns.
So Ian and Major are off to four different Scottish towns in this next series to find out more about them.
In the first episode, timed to go out in the week before COP 26, on Wednesday, October 27, Ian goes to Cumnock to hear about how the town’s green ambitions.
Once a major hub of coal mining, the town now wants to produce all its own electricity from renewable energy and become carbon neutral.
Ian and Major also travel about in the Ayrshire town, visiting the UK’s largest manufacturer of fire engines, a company specialising in modular house-building, and takes a trip to youth community centre Yipworld, and chats to Derek King at Cumnock Juniors.
He also takes a trip to find out about organic farming at Mossgiel farm and environmentally friendly gardening at Dumfries House, and meets up with Keir Mitchell, of local band The Frontiers, and discusses local heritage and how young people see it.
Ian said: “People in Cumnock have a real pride in their town…They are looking forward to a brighter future.”
In successive episodes they head to Shotts in North Lanarkshire and Arbroath.
Finally, in the last programme of this run, Ian and Major leave dry land and cross the Minch to Stornoway, capital of the Western Isles.
With plans for a big new harbour to attract cruise ships and more business investment, Stornoway is looking to the future.
Ian added: “I wants to get away from any well-worn narrative and get under the skin of these places.
“What are the community and generational dynamics? Where are the old timers and who are the new kids on the block?”
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