Village Square Improvements
Extensive plans had been drawn up by
Gartmore Community Trust to make quite elaborate changes to the village square
but when funding wasn't forthcoming, residents decided they should do what they
could themselves. The Village Square
Group was formed and they started with the War Memorial site. Stirling Council removed the overgrown trees
and shrubs and the group got together one sunny weekend in June 2007 to turf and
plant the area.
This led on to a general tidying up of the
area and funds were raised by the Community Council, Community Trust and
Stirling Council to re-tarmac the driveway into the Village Hall.
The main focus then turned to the
properties around the square. The
Community Shop, which is owned by shareholders in the village, was already
going through a refurbishment but the outside of the gable walls still needed
painting and funds had run out. The
Village Club, which houses a grand snooker table and one of the last remaining
Summer Ice tables in Scotland,
was in a dreadful state of disrepair.
The Village Shop
Before the Village Club was sold as a private dwelling house, it needed some care and attention. Saturday 20th October 2007 saw a small group of volunteers turn out to give it a well-needed 'lick of
paint'.
Before paint
and after
The Village Square group were successful in
their bid to Colouring the Community and received free paint and materials from
Dulux Decorator Centres to do the job.
There was also enough paint to donate some to the Community Shop for
their share of the gable end.
One of the conditions in selling the Village Club as a dwelling house meant that a drystone dyke at the far end of the playpark had to be moved and relocated to form a boundary wall. With help from the Drystane Dykers Association, a local group of volunteers dismantled and rebuilt the whole wall in a weekend! Click on the Youtube link below and have a look at our efforts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDWbhERBw5k