The 2016 season at the Mull of Galloway
The 2016 season is almost upon us and the Lighthouse and Exhibition open on Friday 25th March at 10am. Due to the popularity of our additional opening hours last year we have extended opening hours for the Lighthouse again this year and we lots of events planned for the 2016 season.
We are delighted to reveal two very exciting projects for the 2016 season:
Lightkeepers’ Garden Project
As part of Grow Wild, a £10.5m programme supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to inspire people to sow, grow and support UK native wild flowers 2016 we see the transformation of the walled garden at the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse.
The Mull of Galloway Trust have been awarded a Grow Wild Community Project Award of £2,500. We are creating a space for wild native flowers and shrubs to attract insects and birds, forming a raised vegetable bed using local traditional vegetables, constructing a living willow sculpture, bug hotels and play area. Coping with the extreme weather conditions is always a challenge and we have to ensure that we plant suitable shrubs and ensure that ongoing maintenance is carried out.The pupils from Drummore School will be joining us after Easter 2016 to start to plant seeds, grow vegetables and build their bug hotels.
We are calling for volunteers to give us a helping hand. The volunteers will be working with the project team (Mull of Galloway Trust and RSPB Scotland) onsite at the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse Walled Garden transforming the area with wild native flowers, raised vegetable beds, bug hotel and play areas. If you would like to become involved please contact us on info@mull-of-galloway.co.uk.
You can follow our progress on the Grow Wild Website and also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Interpretation Panels
The new interpretation panels are now in place for the 2016 season at the Mull of Galloway. The Mull of Galloway Trust have worked closely with RSPB Scotland and their design team and local business Scot Signs have manufactured and installed the signs. A grant from Awards for All has been used for the new signage around the Mull of Galloway Reserve and Lighthouse and these include interpretation panels about history, flora and fauna and the Beaufighter air crash in 1944. This new signage will help communicate important aspects to visitors about Scotland’s most southerly point and provide facts, information and guidance to visitors in order to increase their enjoyment of the reserve and lighthouse. A new directional finger-post sign will be installed by the Lighthouse showing the distance in miles to various other places in the UK and somewhere a little different! This will give visitors to the Mull of Galloway Experience an opportunity record their visit with a photograph at Scotland’s most southerly point
Maureen Chand, Chairperson of the Mull of Galloway Trust said “We are absolutely delighted to have received this funding to enable us to continue to develop and improve the site which will attract additional tourists to the area and hopefully increase the economic prosperity of the community”