One of the many events taking place is a walk around Lang Craigs.  Join our site manager on Saturday 10th September for a stroll up Overtoun Glen onto the open muir.  As well as an opportunity to enjoy the fantastic site, and take in the stunning vistas across the Clyde and beyond, you will have the chance to find out more about our plans to transform this area into a new native woodland.

For more information and to book call 0141-956-6586 or email rangers@mugdock.org

Over the next three years, we hope to  work with local schools, giving 3000 children the opportunity to plant a tree and learn about their environment.  Through volunteer days and community and schools events the Trust aim to plant over 40,000 of the estimated 150,000 trees planned.

The land is visually stunning with the cliffs of the crags themselves towering over woodland, grassland and high moorland as well as the glens of the Overtoun Burn and Garshake Burn. Native trees such as oak, ash, birch and rowan will be planted, creating flourishing young woodland for wildlife.  The site will be sensitively designed to ensure the spectacular views are retained. 

The area is rich in history, with the unique geology of the Craigs, fossil beds, a prehistoric cup-marked stone, and more recent cultural history from abandoned farmstead sites, Victorian designed landscape features and a WWII bunker used to control decoy fires on the hills during the blitz. The Trust are also interested in tapping into people’s memories and knowledge of the land and its history and to use those stories to help bring the site to life for visitors. 

The site is already popular with walkers, in particular the route from Overtoun House into the Kilpatrick hills. The Trust aims to create additional routes, which can link into existing ones, taking, visitors  through the young woodland and allow.

The meeting is an opportunity for you to feed into those plans, it is our intention that the site becomes an intrinsic part of the local environment, and a place where you can go for a walk, a family picnic or a place to escape the stresses of modern life.

Everyone is welcome, whether you want to share your views or merely listen, we would encourage you to attend.

The meeting will be held in St Augustine’s Church, Dumbarton High Street.

If you are unable to attend, and would like to know more you can email the site manager roybarlow@woodlandtrust.org.uk.

Hope to see you there.

 On the night of 5 May 1941, the Lufftwaffe carried out a bombing raid over the town of Dumbarton.  The raid resulted in 100 houses being destroyed and the loss of 17 lives. The Co-operativeSociety Building was lost to a delayed action bomb while both the Scottish People’s Theatre and a disused school were burnt to the ground.  The shipyards were relatively unscathed. It is believed that the town was spared from the devastation of neighbouring Clydebank in part due to the presence of an RAF Starfish Bunker decoy which is situated to the north of the town.

 The bunker was the base for troops that lit decoy lights and fires.  The site was just one of the many star fish bunkers built during WWII to lure the Lufftwaffe away from their intended target.

 The bunker still exists today and is situated in the Trust’s recent woodland acquisition at Lang Craigs, on the outskirts of Dumbarton.

 The Trust is looking for those who are willing to share their memories of that time.  You may have experienced the raid first hand or perhaps you grew up listening to tales of what life was like. We are particularly interested in any photographs of the bunker.

 If you think you can help us please email Scotland@woodlandtrust.org.uk or call 01738 635829

 This magnificent site, spanning 240 ha (600 acres) will be the largest native woodland creation in Central Scotland.  Over the coming years we will be planting 200,000 trees involving members of the local community and local school children. 

In as little as 12 years this site, will be transformed into a flourishing young woodland providing a home for wildlife and fantastic green space, ideal for family days out, rambling picnics or simply quiet contemplation.  Lang Craigs will belong as much to the people as the wildlife who call it home.

We are really pleased that we have got their support, hopefully this will give the appeal added momentum.

Both Robbie Coltrane and Elaine C Smith believe that our project is a great way to engage young people with the environment and would become a fantastic resource for people to visit, whether it be for ramble, family picnic or for some quiet contemplation.

Why not visit the Lang Craigs appeal page and see for yourself the wonderful qualities the site has to offer.

TV actress Joanna McLeod says of the campaign ” Lang Craigs is a wonderful chance to get communities and children involved in planting trees, improve access to a really beautiful part of the countryside and encourage local people to get their kids out, just as my parents did for me.”

This belief is echoed by Carol Smillie, who has fond memories of playing out in woodland as a child  ” I spent my idyllic childhood in woodland and yet sadly, nowadays kids seem more interested in technology.  

If we all get behind the Woodland Trust and support their plans to plant 200,000 trees, generations to come will have he chance to enjoy the beautiful landscape it will create, and all the wildlife it will attract.”

Whilst Kirsty Young simply says  ” The beauty and tranquility of Scotland’s countryside is beyond compare.  Please do your bit to help the Woodland Trust in their vital work to keep it that way.”

The packs are just one way the Trust engages with young people.  We hope when the Trust acquires Lang Craigs, schools across the area will be enjoying many more tree planting and woodland discovery days, forging an everlasting connection with the growing woodland.

As we planted the trees in the schools grounds,  the Craigs dominated the skyline – a reminder of how close this auspicious site is to the town, and we hope that in time that the people of Dumbarton think the site belongs to them and is somewhere they can go for family days out.

Voting opened yesterday and will stay open until midnight on Wednesday 10th February.  The Trust urgently needs your votes, if we are to secure this hidden gem for future generations.  Please vote today.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and all the best for 2010.