Hip hop group Hector Bizerk today gave a free gig for prisoners in HMP Dumfries as part of the nine-day Big Burns Supper festival.

The gig was part of the festival’s outreach work in north-west Dumfries which is getting new groups of people involved with arts, culture and entertainment.

The Glasgow group waived their usual fee and were supported by volunteers from the town’s Electric Theatre Workshop (ETW) which produced the event on behalf of Big Burns Supper (BBS).

Performers Audrey Tait and Louie, and the rest of the group, played from their new Skin and Bone EP as part of a 45-minute show to a group of more than 60 prisoners at the jail.

Singer Louie said: “It’s been an amazing experience to share our music with this guys, they were a brilliant audience.

“And we love coming to Dumfries, every time we come here the place is great for us.

“As soon as we heard about this idea we wanted to do it, the guys here can really relate to a lot of the themes of our music.”

The group also showed their new film The Bird That Didn’t Fly for the prisoners – only the first time it has ever been shown after its premier in Glasgow. The film features music by the group and poetry performed by Liz Lochhead, Scots machar.

Justin Hyslop, ETW associate director, said: “We mentioned to the group that we were doing some work with the prison service and they immediately wanted to get involved. The gig has been a huge success – they just went down brilliantly with the audience.

“A lot of the men in here are looking at pretty bleak futures after they get out – there aren’t many jobs around. We wanted to tell them about all of our work to give people the chance to get involved with the arts and entertainment worlds, and this was a great way to do that and to inspire them.”

The festival also ran a lantern-making class at the prison. This allowed dads to spend time with their children making lanterns which the youngsters then carried in the huge Burns Night street carnival.

Justin said: “It’s difficult to maintain strong family relationships in prison and this was a superb way for fathers to be doing something really positive with their children that they would all be proud of.”

After the prison gig Hector Bizerk went on to perform at the Spiegeltent – the main BBS venue.

BBS is a festival of contemporary and traditional culture and a huge public celebration of the birthday of Scotland’s national Bard, Robert Burns, in his beloved town of Dumfries. It is also part of Scotland’s Winter Festivals (a programme of events managed by EventScotland on behalf of the Scottish Government) and attracts thousands of visitors from across the UK and overseas.

The festival is made possible by support from many organisations including Creative Scotland, 8020 and Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Beacon Event Programme.

Once again BBS has teamed up with other local festivals and promoters to present eclectic club nights which include the Eden Opening Party.

The carnival is supported by the Robertson Trust, Holywood Trust and Awards for All. Year of Food and Drink Scotland will build on the momentum generated by Homecoming Scotland 2014 with a series of exciting events and activities celebrating Scotland’s outstanding natural larder.

This year Big Burns Supper has teamed up with Barnardo’s Scotland as its first ever charity partner. Text BURNS to 70500 to donate £3 to Barnardo’s Scotland.

Police Scotland report that they have recovered the body of a male person from the beach near Glencaple.  The body was discovered by a member of the public at around 1030 hours today (Thursday 29 January 2015) who reported it to the police. 

As yet no formal identification has been made.

Enquiries are ongoing at this stag

The new foyer exhibition at Dumfries Museum has the answer. 200 years ago in June the Battle of Waterloo marked the end of over 20 years of war that ravaged Europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Many local men were involved in local defence forces while others went to fight in Europe and some lost their lives there. Those who survived were celebrated for years to come. Monuments to these men were erected all over Britain and include the Waterloo Monument at New Abbey.

The inscription on this monument reads:

Erected A.D. 1816

To record the Valour

Of those British, Belgian

And Prussian soldiers.

Who under WELLINGTON and

BLUCHER

On the 18th of June 1815

Gained the victory

Of

WATERLOO;

By which, French tyranny

Was overthrown;

And peace restored,

To the world.

Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the greatest military leaders in history. The Napoleonic Wars, a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, were waged by Napoleon’s French Empire and its allies against a series of coalitions of other European nations.

In 1808 France began fighting Spain, Britain and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula. Costly French defeats over the next five years drained French military resources and Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 resulted in a disastrous retreat. The tide started to turn in favour of the allies and in March 1814 Paris fell and the French monarchy returned to the throne. Napoleon was detained on the Mediterranean island of Elba.

In March 1815 Napoleon escaped, marched on the French capital, gathering support as he went, and overthrew the French King Louis XVIII. This began “The Hundred Days War” which ended with a decisive battle near the town of Waterloo in Belgium on Sunday 18 June 1815.

The foyer exhibition at Dumfries Museum includes a Galloway Militia jacket which is on display for the first time following extensive conservation work carried out by students at the Centre for Textile Conservation at Glasgow University. The jacket would have been worn in the early 1800s by an officer of the Galloway Militia, one of the many small forces which were set up to defend local areas in the event of a French invasion. Alongside the jacket is a battered Royal Scots Belgic Shako hat of the type that would have been worn at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. A beautifully detailed model of a 19th Century 90 gun Napoleonic Man-of-War made by a French prisoner of war is also on show. Napoleon would not exchange prisoners, so by 1811 the number of Frenchmen held in England had become overwhelming. It was decided to parole French officers within the Royal Burghs of the south of Scotland and over 2,000 officers were sent to Dumfries, Lockerbie, Lochmaben and Sanquhar. More detailed information about these events is available for visitors to read, including a list of soldiers associated with Dumfries and Galloway who took part in The Battle of Waterloo campaign compiled by local historian Sandy Hall.

Councillor Tom McAughtrie, Chair of the Council’s Community and Customer Services Services, said:
“It is good to see an exhibition showing how the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Waterloo impacted on our local area. Dumfries Museum has forged a productive relationship with the Textile Conservation Centre at Glasgow University enabling more of our amazing local history collection to be displayed.

Dumfries and Galloway Council will be holding commemoration events in conjunction with Dumfries’ twin town Giffhorn who also had troops at the Battle of Waterloo and the Community Council in New Abbey are planning to stage an event on 18 June, the day of the 200th anniversary of the battle.”

On Thursday 5 March, 7pm there will be a talk by Geoff Hancock, Honorary Curator of Entomology at the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow. He will speaking about Captain John Laskey (c1750-1829), soldier and antiquarian.

In 1813 a guide to the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, was written by Captain John Laskey, of the Kirkcudbright and Galloway 21st Militia. This talk traces the story of Laskey from his Devon roots, through his interests in natural history and antiquities, to becoming a career soldier based in Scotland during the Napoleonic wars. As a collector, familiar with the major museums and books of this period of The Enlightenment, Laskey published work on a wide variety of fascinating subjects. Admission to this talk is free but booking is required. Please phone Dumfries Museum on 01387 253374 to reserve a place. Light refreshments will be served.

Three community leaders selected from voluntary organisations across the region have been appointed by Third Sector, Dumfries and Galloway to chair Locality Forums in three of the four locality areas; Annandale & Eskdale, Nithsdale and Wigtownshire. An appointment is yet to be announced for the Stewartry.

Peter Ross, Director of DG-voice and Chair of Dumfries & Galloway LEADER Local Action Group, will facilitate the forum in Wigtownshire whilst Eileen Usher from Lochmaben Playcare and a representative on the Early Years Collaborative, will be responsible for Annandale & Eskdale. The forum in Nithsdale will be administered by Sam Johnston from Dumfries and Galloway Citizen’s Advice Service.

The three will form part of a team of ‘Locality Conveners,’ charged with establishing a ‘safe space’ for third sector organisations in the local community to come together to address pertinent issues, discuss strategies and identify opportunities of mutual interest. They will be the main link in their localities to developments in Health and Social Care integration and the Community Planning Partnership with support from the team at Third Sector, Dumfries and Galloway.

Locality Conveners Bios

Peter Ross

Peter Ross is a veteran of the voluntary sector, having volunteered in a large number of national, regional and local organisations since the mid 1980’s. He brings to the role, 25 years’ experience from previous roles as business owner, Health Improvement Officer, and a consultant in the areas of Community Forestry and community development. Not one to rest on his oars, Peter currently serves as a representative on the Employability Partnership in Wigtownshire. Although retired, he has taken up this new challenge and pledges to ‘Engage and Influence,’ a tenet which he says will guide his efforts in providing “strong and coherent representation for the third sector in the community planning partnership”. He had this to say about his appointment:

“I believe fully in the role of volunteering and active citizenship and will do my very best to fully represent the whole of the third sector here in Dumfries & Galloway.”

Eileen Usher

Eileen Usher has worked for Dumfries and Galloway council in schools and nurseries and with the NHS Integrated Children’s Services and has years of experience as a foster carer, professional childcare manager and Children’s Panel Member under her belt. Eileen is passionate about improving services for communities throughout the region and believes that third sector organisations have an integral role to play in the delivery of successful outcomes. Her vision is to see Dumfries and Galloway become a recognisable force in shaping the future voice of third sector organisations throughout Scotland. She said:

“It is important that all third sector organisations can access the help and support needed to maximise their potential and work in their community. When we work collaboratively and cohesively with statutory organisations, there is positive impact on services at all levels”.

Sam Johnston

Sam Johnston is no stranger to the third sector and this appointment will be another string to her bow. Sam has been involved in setting up and managing various volunteer projects within the region and has recently been appointed Chair of Nithsdale Local Rural Partnership. Sam has a working knowledge of the standards of community engagement and local community planning structures as well as knowledge of the Health & Social care Integration which is due to come into effect in April 2015. She believes in giving people the confidence and voice to raise concerns or complaints and the opportunity to feedback issues that affect them. She explains:

“I am very much the believer that the community voice is as important as the ones making decisions”.

With the integration of Health and Social Care taking place across the county, these forums will provide a unique opportunity for the local community to make a critical contribution to health and social care delivery in the region by ensuring essential services are joined up and locally responsible. Decisions taken at these forums will ultimately influence the formation of public policy, thereby giving third sector organisations a stake in the decision making process.

Six Thematic Forums have still to be established; one for each of the 6 priority areas in Dumfries and Galloway’s Single Outcome Agreement. This shared, explicit and binding plan represents the commitments from all partners to drive improvements in the quality of public service delivery in the region.

Third Sector, Dumfries and Galloway invited expressions of interest at the end of 2014 for 10 voluntary Conveners in total; four to cover all of the locality areas, as well as six for each of the thematic areas.

The overarching aim of the forums is to create a ‘collective voice’ for the third sector through the formation of a Strategic Forum. This would include the 10 Conveners and some Third sector representatives from the Community Planning Partnership. The Conveners will ensure that collaboration between all parties’ proceeds smoothly and key messages are fed into the Strategic Forum.

Third Sector, Dumfries and Galloway would be interested to hear from anyone who would be interested in convening any of the Thematic Forums.