Funding awards for community organisations

A major art exhibition and a scouts trip to Switzerland are among six applications being considered for a share of Kirkcudbright’s Common Good funding. Members of the Kirkcudbright Common Good Fund Sub Committee meet this afternoon to consider six grant bids from community groups, which total more than £24,000. The largest single application comes from ArtExKG, a small charity established specifically to support temporary exhibitions at Kirkcudbright Galleries. The group is seeking £5000 toward a major exhibition called ‘Colour — the palette of S.J. Peploe’, which will gather around 50 works by the famous Scottish Colourist who frequently visited and painted in Kirkcudbright. Entry to the exhibition will be free, and it is expected to draw visitors from across Scotland and beyond, with organisers estimating a contribution of around £2 million to local businesses during a major exhibition year. Kirkcudbright Scouts are applying for £1000 to help fund a trip to the Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Switzerland in July — the first international trip the group has undertaken. The 23 scouts and explorers attending have been fundraising since March 2025. Kirkcudbright and District Community Council is seeking £3750 to fund a five-year maintenance plan for five defibrillators located throughout the town. Kirkcudbright Parish Church has applied for £5497 toward repairs to the Parish Church Hall, where several doors and windows are showing signs of rot, allowing draughts and leaks. Kirkcudbright Forum is seeking £2836 to fund the printing and distribution of 24,000 copies of the town’s popular ‘What’s On’ brochure for 2026 — a key publication in attracting visitors to Kirkcudbright.

Meanwhile, Kirkcudbright Development Trust has applied for £6000 toward repairing the stone youth shelter at Harbour Square, which lost its roof during Storm Eowyn in February 2025.