Please find our April news update on https://dunblane.info/dcc
The Community Council meeting due to take place on 3 April has been rescheduled to 10 April.
See the listing in What's On?
up to date about the community co-working space that we are planning.
The Community Council is devoting its whole meeting on 7 February to a discussion on the Stirling Council budget proposals.
The meeting will be held in the Library at 7.00pm Now in Victoria Hall
Anneli Allen Architects specialise in bespoke residential design, rural projects, listed building alterations & projects within conservation areas.
By using the contact details below, you can organise a free, no-obligation discussion to go through your plans.
Stirling Council has moved out of Dunblane's Burgh Chambers and Creative Dunblane is planning to take it over on a 20 year lease.
On Saturday 27 January, a dozen Volunteers from Creative Dunblane and the Digital Makerspace spent a morning transforming the Town's Burgh Chambers - disposing of years of old council leaflets and bits of computer from a bygone era
The volunteers were getting the building ready for a range of new community activities including the creation of co-working spaces - where local people who are home workers can get out of the house and share an office when they want to!
Co-working spaces are springing up all over the country but as yet there are none in Dunblane. In April we hope there will be - in the Burgh Chambers in the centre of the Town!
If you are interested in co-working, contact Creative Dunblane on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Coding for kids – it’s the future
On Saturday 20 January 2024, Creative Dunblane hosted a new CoderDojo, a coding club for young people.
Eleven young people aged 7 to 17 attended this inaugural event – three from Dunblane High School and eight from local primary schools - and there was a good gender balance! Many parents came along too, making the most of this lively community event
The Dunblane CoderDojo is being run on behalf of Creative Dunblane by local couple Jane & David Greenlee, assisted by two other volunteers Ian Davies & Peter Rennert.
‘To begin with things were very quiet’, said Jane ‘but by leaving time the place was buzzing! It was great
to see young people working together and learning.’
Following our successful launch event, CoderDojo sessions will be run every 3rd Saturday of the month in the Burgh Chambers. Bookings can be made around a week in advance of each session. All you needs is a laptop/tablet and head phones, if you have them, a charger (for the laptop) and a parent, if you are under 13. Details are available on the Creative Dunblane website CoderDojo | creativedunblane.info
And we do other work with Schools
Volunteers with Creative Dunblane’s Digital Makerspace project also work with school students from Dunblane High School – they go to the school regularly on a Monday afternoon, helping young people to learn how to design objects on the computer and then to print them on a 3D printer, a laser cutter or a CNC machine. The Makerspace is also developing a new initiative working with a local nursery school.
What is Coder Dojo ?
Coder Dojo is a free, volunteer-led, community-based computer club for young people. Anyone aged 7 to 17 can visit Coder Dojo and learn to code, build a website or create an app or game.
Dojos are a space for kids and teens to explore technology in an informal, creative, safe and social environment.
Creative Dunblane wants to help kids & teens realise that they can build a positive future through coding. We think that an understanding of programming languages is important in today’s world. It is easier to learn these computing skills early. Everyone should have the chance to learn coding.
What is Creative Dunblane
Creative Dunblane is a local charity established to take over the town’s Burgh Chambers from the Council and meet the needs of the local community. Their first initiative was to set up Dunblane Digital Makerspace which was launched nearly 12 months ago and has 100 members.
Creative Dunblane plans to use the Burgh Chambers for a range of activities including co-working spaces, meeting rooms, a computer suite and artists’ pods.~
Just as they have created a new ‘community’ around the Makerspace, they hope to create a co-working community where local people, tired of working, from home can come together and support each other in convivial surroundings.
Email : Creative Dunblane on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A Dunblane schoolgirl has had her first book published at the age of just 11.
Emma Russell, winner of the Thistles Christmas story writing competition, was joined by friends, family and classmates at her first book launch.
Last year, the student beat over 100 local children to win a Christmas story writing competition, hosted by Thistles shopping centre in Stirling.
The youngster from St Mary’s Episcopal Primary School in Dunblane, Stirling wrote A Thistle’s Adventure, which follows the story of Kalo the naughty elf and his attempts to sabotage Christmas at Thistles.
Emma won over the judges including award-winning author, Alan Windram, who met with her and her classmates to discuss how to write a book and what it’s like to be an author.
On Saturday, Emma, now one of the country’s youngest authors, welcomed a queue of customers alongside her classmates to the launch of her published book at Waterstones, Stirling.
Friends, family and classmates joined her at the book launch to support her as she sold copies of her book in an effort to raise money for her school.
Thistles enlisted the help of local Stirling artist, Lauren Ashley, who brought Emma’s characters to life through beautiful hand-drawn illustrations.
Emma said: “I hope this book makes this year’s Christmas as special for everyone else as it is for me. Lauren’s illustrations are magical and bring the story to life – I’m so excited.”
Gary Turnbull, Centre Director at Thistles said: “We were delighted to grant Emma’s wish of turning her story in to a published picture book.
“Emma’s writing really stood out amongst the other entries last year and we’re delighted to have this come full circle and host the official launch in the run up to Christmas”.