Four Hundred Trees to be Planted Across Dumfries and Galloway

Four hundred trees will be planted across Dumfries and Galloway as part of a project to mark the impact of the COVID pandemic, and to honour those lost to COVID in the region.

The planting of a Dispersed Memorial Forest is part of Remembering Together Dumfries and Galloway which is this region’s contribution to the Scotland-wide memorial project funded by the Scottish Government. Remembering Together Dumfries and Galloway is led by DG Unlimited, Dumfries and Galloway Council, and greenspace scotland.

The tree planting plans for the memorial have been developed for Remembering Together Dumfries and Galloway and are part of the Scotland-wide development of memorials which will honour those we have lost, mark what has changed in our lives, and preserve the best of what we learned and created together during the COVID pandemic. Artists and creative organisations have been commissioned in each of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas, and the memorials created in each area will be locally co-designed and unique to each area.

Artists t s Beall and Katie Anderson will be working with communities across Dumfries and Galloway to collaboratively design and plant the Dispersed Memorial Forest across five sites - Castle Douglas, Dumfries, Moffat, Sanquhar, and Stranraer. The forest comprises the central part of the Covid Memorial for Dumfries and Galloway, which will also include community events in all five locations, and a permanent archive sharing stories from the community.

Between July and December 2022, the artists spoke to over 835 of the region’s residents right across Dumfries and Galloway from Kirkcudbright to Annan, Stranraer to Sanquhar and many other locations. Through these conversations and by using bespoke engagement tools, t s and Katie identified key ideas and themes for Dumfries and Galloway’s region wide memorial.

One of the most prominent ideas which emerged from the discussions during the first phase was the importance of spending time outdoors during the lockdowns we all endured because of the pandemic. A focus on connecting with nature and a renewed appreciation for our local green spaces emerged as a strong theme in all the community discussions.

Artists t s Beall and Katie Anderson explain:

“We want to plant one tree for each person we lost to COVID in the region, and additional trees to represent other types of loss and resilience; to highlight the different ways communities ‘grew together’ over the pandemic. While each tree will not represent an individual, we hope the whole forest can help to represent the enormous losses, and incredible resilience, of people across D&G.”

Members of the public are warmly invited to connect with the project, comment on the works and ideas in development, and to volunteer and get involved in co-designing specific aspects of the Community COVID Memorial for Dumfries and Galloway. Over the coming months, through to Spring 2024, there will be opportunities to plant trees, attend creative workshops, and contribute to community events which will launch the Dispersed Memorial Forest sites. The project will be completed in June 2024.

Members of the public who are interested are encouraged to get in touch and help shape the Community Covid Memorial for Dumfries and Galloway by e mailing rememberingtogetherdg@gmail.com

 fb @rememberingtogetherdg | insta @rememberingtogetherdg | twX @covidmemorialdg

Linktree Linktr.ee/rememberingtogetherdg

The project will continue to be supported in the region by lead delivery partners Dumfries & Galloway Chamber of the Arts, DG Unlimited, with funding from the Scottish Government.