Kirkgunzeon's story to be shared with the world thanks to new website

A new community website has been launched to tell Kirkgunzeon’s story to the world.

The little village between Beeswing and Dalbeattie boasts a rich past and strong community spirit.

And now hopes are high the online portal, kirkgunzeon.org, will help it look to the future as Covid eases.

As well as information on Kirkgunzeon and Maxwell Memorial Hall, the website features the history of Kirkgunzeon Parish, the church and the war memorial.

The local natural environment and links to local services also get top billing.

Hall committee chairman Paul Phillips said: “Like many community facilities, the hall is closed at the moment due to Covid-19.

“The website is part of an effort to maintain and promote a sense of community spirit during these difficult times.

“We see the activities and facilities offered by the hall as a positive way to promote feelings of community goodwill, belonging and civic pride.

“While we cannot currently bring the community together for activities, we are keen to do what we can to foster our sense of community, to help reduce feelings of social isolation and promote a sense of wellbeing.”

In 2020 Kirkgunzeon staged two socially distanced events to lift community spirits – a scarecrow competition and a Hallowe’en lantern celebration.

The aim was to launch a community website as a valuable online resource.

The website launched on March 30 and feedback received from the community so far has been full of praise.

Locals have commented on the attractive design and layout and how easy it is to navigate.

Mr Phillips said: “The new website offers an opportunity to showcase past community events and activities.

“Among those are the restoration of the war memorial and creation of the Centenary Roll of Honour which now hangs in the hall.

“All this was funded by the local community.

“In addition, the website allows us to present the fascinating information discovered through the research of local community historians such as Lynne Crichton.

“This was displayed at extremely popular exhibitions in the Hall in 2006 and 2019 and we can now offer online access with the opportunity to maintain and develop these precious community records.”

Once current restrictions are eased the hall committee is planning to restart activities.

Initiatives include the youth club – which had a very successful start last year – regular community events and pop up pub.

“The website offers an additional way to publicise the hall and community activities based there,” Mr Phillips said.

“We hope the website will also allow us to promote our activities to funders, as we are about to start a major fundraising campaign for essential building works which include replacement of the Hall roof.”

He added: “We have also drawn on the expertise of the South West Scotland Environmental Information Centre which is based in Kirkgunzeon.

“It offers access to a superb resource for those interested in the natural environment.

“They hold details of the wildlife species found in our area and their staff have facilitated well received community nature events such as two village moth surveys.”

The Kirkgunzeon website was produced by Dalbeattie-based website designers great-value-websites.com with funding from Dumfries and Galloway Council.