Our Community

Crossmichael Primary School serves the villages of Crossmichael, Parton, Glenlochar, Laurieston and surrounding areas. The school has three classrooms with capacity for 75 pupils and a large playground containing a community play park. Crossmichael Community Woodland is behind the school and is accessed frequently for outdoor learning. The school has a kitchen where meals are freshly prepared every day and a PE hall/ dining room.

Our school is in partnership with Gelston Primary School and shares the same Headteacher.

Gelston Primary School serves the rural communities of Gelston and Rhonehouse. The main school building was refurbished a few years ago and consists of two classrooms with capacity for 50 pupils altogether. There is a Portakabin on site and a large playground with a small garden area and a climbing frame. We have a school kitchen which lies a few steps away from the main building and freshly prepared meals are cooked on site. Pupils walk down to the Village Hall for PE lessons and assemblies.

Our Vision, Values and Aims for the partnership schools are:
⭐ Our Vision: Wee schools growing big thinkers.
⭐ Successful Learners: Achieving, Creative, Persevering, Inquiring, Conscientious, Prepared.
⭐ Effective Contributors: Resilient, Enterprising, Collaborative, Critical Thinkers, Problem Solvers.
⭐ Responsible Citizens: Respectful, Tolerant, Honest, Nurturing, Eco-friendly.
Confident Individuals: Positive, Aware, Healthy, Independent.
⭐ Our Aims: Be kind, show respect and work hard.

We are actively involved in the local community and look forward to strengthening links with local people, organisations, services and businesses.

If you wish to find out more about Crossmichael Primary School, then please visit our school website and blog.

The Congregation of Crossmichael, Parton and Balmaghie is a small congregation that meets to worship Sunday by Sunday either in Parton kirk or Crossmichael kirk. Crossmichael congregation has, at various times, been joined with Parton and with Castle Douglas. It was eventually united with Parton in 1989 and, at the same time, linked with the parish of Corsock & Kirkpatrick Durham. In 2015, the parish was extended once again with the addition of Balmaghie. Although the parish covers the area of Balmaghie, it no longer owns the buildings there.

Within the congregation, there is a branch of the Church of Scotland Guild. This group meets monthly from October to March and it is one of the groups that meet in the church hall. Others include the Kirk Session and Congregational Board, the knit and natter group, the embroiderers and the Soup and Sweet lunches that are held on the last Tuesday of every month. There is also community activity in the hall as it is used as a base for the Triathlon each September and other groups use it for meetings.

We have good contact with the primary school in the village: every fortnight on a Tuesday, we run an after-school club doing games, crafts and bible stories with the children. The school holds end-of-term services in the church building and we also host concerts and Wee Book Hoose events.

Crossmichael’s community woodland lies between St Michael’s Road and the grounds of Culgruff House.

Core Path 193 runs through the site and the woodland can be accessed either from the south, to the side of the Memorial Hall, or from the north, near to Culgruff Farm. It’s also possible to get onto the path from the Templand estate.

The woodland occupies about 3½ hectares. It’s a mixed planting, mostly native broadleaves, but with some conifers as well. The planting was done in 1995-6 by the owner of the site at that time, Archie McBride of Drumskelly Farm. From the start, it was designated for community use and this arrangement has continued thanks to the generosity of the current owners, James and Christine Shedden of Balgerran.

Over the years, various improvements have been made: paths improved, benches and bridges installed and we hope to do more. Although the wood is managed by the environment group of the Community Council, basic maintenance is carried out by volunteers and we are always looking for more!

The wood is well used by walkers and by the school – but with more help, we could make it even more attractive and we would like to encourage more residents and visitors to enjoy the trees, the wildlife, the peaceful atmosphere and the fabulous views over the river valley.

If you have any comments on the woodland or would like to volunteer to help with management, please email:

Take a visit to Crossmichael’s local library, although it may not be quite what you were expecting. A community group has converted a disused phone box into a thriving 24-hour library where people can borrow, take or donate books. The library, now known as The Wee Book Hoose, holds up to 200 books, thanks to donations from the community and local businesses.

Keep an eye out for events held by The Wee Book Hoose on our Facebook page . Previous events have included:

- an exhibition of 1000 villages photographs with the Village Heritage Project
- a cultural event celebrating the life of a local man who inspired Captain Hook
- a storytelling event with Mary Smith, author and Cathy Cassidy, author
- a gig by John Reischman and The Jaybirds, with support from the Catstrand.

If you want to get involved with the project, feel free to contact 01556670262 or email us. We are always looking for books and ideas (especially children’s).

The Wee Book Hoose has been featured on:
ITV news - View.
BBC News Scotland - View.
The Kaye Adams Programme (BBC Radio Scotland).

The idea of holding a Flower show in Crossmichael was proposed at a Community Council Meeting in 1978/9 by Jackie (Bungy) Scott and a committee was formed to organise and run a Show.Since 1979, Crossmichael Flower Show Committee has organised a Flower and Produce show on the last Saturday in August each year.

The Flower Show has evolved into a self-supporting event run by a hard-working committee of gardening, baking and handicraft enthusiasts.

The Flower Show have a comprehensive website with current schedules, history and contact details.

Under the title, Crossmichael Arts, we run a mixed programme of arts events in Crossmichael. Previously, the Wee Book Hoose put on events of various kinds including performances. These were so successful that a decision was made to organise a regular programme.

We were delighted when the Glenkens Community and Arts Trust, which runs the Catstrand Arts Centre in New Galloway, offered to collaborate with us in organising this programme. The first events organised on this basis took place in 2019: a bluegrass concert by celebrated North American band John Reischman and the Jaybirds in the Memorial Hall; and a story-telling tent at Crossmichael Gala, with story-tellers Anne Errington and Tony Bonning.

Our most recent event was particularly notable - a solo recital by the jazz star, Tommy Smith, perhaps the greatest jazz musician Scotland has ever produced, in Crossmichael Church.

We have put on films and theatre performances in addition to music – and are happy to include any kind of events that people tell us they would like to see. Future events will be advertised on this website as well as in Catstrand brochures and on their website: www.gcat.scot.

We are always looking for ideas, so tell us what sort of events you would like to see. And we are always looking for more volunteers to help us plan and give a hand with the organising.

Crossmichael has become well known for its triathlon, held in early September each year. It now attracts competitors from all parts of the country as well as locally.

The Clarebrand branch of the Scottish Womens Institute meets on the third Monday of each Month at 7.30 in Clarebrand Village Hall.

Members enjoy a varied programme of talks, demonstrations, outings, entertainments and hands-on craft sessions, with opportunities to take part in other events organized by the Stewartry and National Federations.