Our first five-year Glencairn & Moniaive Action Plan (GMAP 2016-22) prioritised actions across core areas and resulted in the following projects:

Community Shop & Hub 

In 2017 Moniaive Initiative started using a Big Lottery Fund Development Grant to progress a Concept Design for a proposed Community Shop & Hub project in Moniaive High Street.  Having established through an earlier Feasibility Study that this model could be sustainable in Moniaive, we completed an Options Appraisal on 6 buildings that were at that time available for purchase / lease in the High Street, and finally settled on our ‘target’ building. Unfortunately, specialist surveys eventually showed that our first choice of building was in a worse condition than expected, and not a financially viable option for us.  

In May 2018 we were kindly allowed by the owners of AMD (one of the other buildings in our Options Appraisal) to run a trial ‘Pop Up Hub’ during the weekend of the Moniaive Folk Festival.  This gave us the opportunity to showcase not only our own work, but also that of many other community groups and organisations.  We received positive feedback on this trial, and were able to use it to consider in more detail how we might use that building in the future.

In July 2018 we were accepted back onto the Big Lottery / Scottish Land Fund programme, and were subsequently successful with our Stage I application.  We negotiated a 6-month lease of the AMD and carried out remedial works to bring the empty building back into use, including inspections of the electrical, plumbing and heating installations, and replacement of the broken front window.  With the help of local volunteers we cleaned and redecorated the building. We borrowed furniture from Dumfries SHAX, and received further donations of furniture, paint and decorating equipment from local residents.  Display counters were made from the solid wooden doors donated from a nearby house renovation.  Our volunteers spent some 117 hours preparing the building for opening.  We offered a Pre-Loved Clothes and Accessories section, locally-produced Arts & Crafts, an Honesty Library and community hub area, a Workshop space and a Therapy Room.

We submitted our Stage II application (for purchase costs) to the Scottish Land Fund in early December 2018. Then doors of our ‘Trial Hub’ were eventually opened in mid-December 2018, with a pop-up party for the Living Advent Calendar, followed by an Official Opening event.  We were overwhelmed by the local support for these events.  In early February 2019 we held a competition to name the Hub, and eventually settled on ‘The Hive’.   Later that month we received confirmation that our Scottish Land Fund application had been successful: we were awarded £56,691 and completed the purchase in June 2019.

Affordable Housing 

In 2016 we carried out feasibility work on community housing in Moniaive which identified suitable long-term empty properties for development.  With funding from Scottish Government Rural Housing Fund and SSE Dumfries & Galloway Sustainable Development Fund we were able to purchase and renovate 12 Sawmill Green, Moniaive in 2019/20, renovating the long-empty property to provide a fully-accessible home suitable for an older / less mobile person. Progress was delayed by the Covid Pandemic, but our first tenant was able to move in during August 2020.  This project won the “Best Long-Term Empty Homes Restoration Project” award at the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership Annual Awards in 2021.

Macara Park Improvement Project

In 2014 Moniaive Initiative started working with the local community to implement improvements to Macara Park.  A newly-formed group, the Friends of Macara Park, held work-parties to clean the existing play equipment and pressure-hose the safety surfacing.  Following local consultation, we selected Playdale to install a dedicated Toddler Area and an Aerial Runway.  In September 2017 we finally reached our fundraising target, thanks to the following generous grants and donations:

£4,529 – Annandale & Nithsdale Community Benefit Company
£5,000 – Glencairn Community Council Windfarm Fund
£8,889 – The Holywood Trust
£10,000 – Awards For All
£2,750 – D&G Nithsdale Area Committee
£682.54 – Local fundraising & donations
£31,850.54 – TOTAL

Our local fundraising target was given a welcome boost by the staff of Watsons Groceries, who donated the proceeds from the sale of the “Big Graham” calendar to our project in February 2017.

Installation commenced in November 2017, and the Aerial Runway was completed early in the New Year.  Unfortunately the weather was against us, and the safety surfacing for the Toddler Area could not be completed until early March 2018.  We held the Official Opening on 26 March 2018.  After a quick downpour, Elaine and Evie were able to cut the ribbon on the new Toddler Area,  whilst Carys and Kelvin (the Gala Queen and Gala King) cut the ribbon on the Aerial Runway.  We then had a sunny, Spring afternoon of Easter Egg Hunts, egg and spoon races, bike circuits, and good, old-fashioned play on the new equipment.