CEDAR COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER
On the 6th June at 12pm the village annual Summer Fun Day will take place in the field behind Crawford Primary School. We have a large selection of inflatables this year including Base Jump, Bungee Run, Giant Darts and Penalty Shoot Out.
There will be face painting for the kids and big kids alike. And we will be treated to music all afternoon from local music maestro, DJ Sparky! And a chance to grab something to eat at the burger van!
Looking for your next read, a puzzle to get stuck into or a board game for your next family night? Pop along to the Book Fair on the 27th June 10am till 1pm at Crawford Village Hall.
Interested in hosting your next event or party in Crawford Village Hall? You can book online at:
crawfordandelvanfoot.co.uk/hall-bookings
The community came together on Sunday 26th April for a highly successful and well-attended Spring Fayre, welcoming visitors of all ages for a day filled with seasonal activities, local businesses, and community spirit.
The event was generously funded by Muirhall Energy, whose support helped provide a range of refreshments and activities throughout the day. Guests enjoyed hot filled rolls alongside breakfast favourites including pastries, yoghurts, and fresh fruit, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere from the start.
A variety of activities kept visitors entertained throughout the fayre. Spring wreath making proved particularly popular, while the seeds and plugs give-away encouraged attendees to get involved in gardening and prepare for the growing season ahead. Families also made great use of the children’s crafting area, where younger visitors could enjoy creative activities in a relaxed setting. The tombola was another highlight of the event and proved to be a fantastic success.
All prizes had been won by midday, with an impressive £109 raised towards the establishment of the new community gardening group currently being set up. Gardening and children’s books, provided through the monthly book fair, were also available to purchase and were well received by visitors.
The weather held well throughout the day, allowing everyone to make full use of the outdoor space. One of the newly installed picnic-style seaters was set up for the event and quickly became a popular addition, giving people a place to sit, chat, and enjoy refreshments together.
The fayre attracted an excellent turnout, with 71 visitors attending across the day. While many guests were local residents, the event also welcomed visitors from further afield, including East Kilbride, Dumfries, Douglas, Crawfordjohn, Lanark, and Biggar, highlighting the growing interest in community events within the area.
Local businesses and stallholders also played an important role in the day’s success. Clydesdale Plants attended with a selection of plants for sale, offering plenty of inspiration for keen gardeners. Visitors also enjoyed browsing handcrafted items from The Bark Side Woodcrafts.
Throughout the event, information was shared about CEDAR, including membership opportunities, a mailing list for non-members, and an interest form for the proposed community gardening group. The gardening initiative received a very positive response, with attendees expressing interest in a variety of ideas including monthly meetings to share gardening tips and advice, adopting community planters, practical learning workshops, and social activities such as garden picnics and plant swaps.
Overall, the Spring Fayre was a wonderful celebration of community spirit, bringing people together to enjoy the season, support local businesses, and explore new opportunities for future community activities. A huge thanks goes out to the volunteers who put in so much time leading up to the event and on the day to make it such a success.
Crawford Bowling Club has been going since 1883 and it started its 143rd year with another successful and well attended open day on the 3rd May with bowlers from Abington, Lesmahagow, Carnwarth, Douglas Victoria, Biggar, Moffat Beechgrove, and Thankerton attending.
If you are interested in giving bowls a try membership for the season is £100. Members meet every Tuesday and Friday but membership gives you access to the green whenever suits you. Guests and social members are invited to play every Friday from 6:30pm costing £3.
Saddle up, it’s time for a hoedown. On Saturday the 1st of August Crawford and Elvanfoot Promotions and Events (CEPE) will be hosting The Music Lady.
If you were there last year you know this one isn’t to be missed. Tickets will sell fast so make sure to get yours quick to avoid any disappointment.
You can get tickets from anyone on the committee. Daniel Rowley, Julie Turner Corrine Campbell, Aileen Gemmell, Fiona Greenhorn, Jane Quinn and Daniel Jones.
Or email: crawfordandelvanfoot.events@gmail.com to request tickets.
Our community transport initiative has taken an exciting step forward.
A brand new fully electric Toyota Proace Verso 9-seater vehicle is now on order for use by residents across Crawford, Elvanfoot and Daer. We expect to take delivery in September 2026!
Once the vehicle has been delivered, our new online booking form and telephone line will go live.
This is an important response to the issues raised in the Community Action Plan, where 84% of residents said public transport was poor or awful. This new service is designed to help close that gap.
You can use the service to make a health appointment at the doctor’s surgery or hospital, to catch a connecting bus at Abington services or to get you home after a day visiting friends in Moffat, Douglas or Leadhills.
As if that’s not exciting enough we are also delighted to announce the name of the new service. CEDAR CONNECT
From April 2026 our new allocation of micro grant funding is available. We now receive £10,000 per annum. Residents of Crawford, Elvanfoot and Daer can apply for grants of up to £500 to help with the start-up costs of any new projects or events which benefit the local community.
We only spent 30% of our allocation last year so let’s aim to do more with this fantastic benefit. We only receive enough to top our fund back up to £10,000 each year so any money we don’t spend is money lost.
To apply you need to complete a short application form which is then assessed by our panel of 4 local residents. If successful you will be issued the money, all you need to do after that is supply receipts for the money you spent and return anything you didn’t spend.
This newsletter is produced by CEDAR as a community newsletter
for Crawford, Elvanfoot and Daer.
Its purpose is simple: to share local news, updates, events, activities and stories from across our community.
We would love to hear from local groups, clubs, organisations and residents who have something to share. This could include upcoming events, recent achievements, volunteer opportunities, fundraising news, project updates or anything of wider community interest.
To make this easier, we now have a dedicated newsletter mailbox for submissions:
newsletter@cedar-group.org
Please send any items for inclusion by the 14th of each month for the following month’s edition. We cannot guarantee that every item will be included, but we will do our best to share as much relevant community news as possible.
You may have heard recently, or read on the Crawford & Elvanfoot Facebook page, that steps are being taken to re-establish Crawford & Elvanfoot Community Council.
In our community, issues arise from time to time where a statutory representation or request from a Community Council will carry more weight with South Lanarkshire Council than individual suggestions or complaints. And we have been without such a voice for over a year. CEDAR and CEPE are doing a brilliant job, but we do also need to have a formal voice, working alongside and in parallel with those activities.
Please do come along to one of the two Public Meetings below, to find out more, and to have your say about what is important to YOU in our community. And if you might be interested in taking on the responsibility of becoming a member of the new Community Council, then you will be especially welcome!
- Saturday, 13 June, 10 am
- Monday, 15 June, 7 pm
The meetings will start at these times, and are expected to last around 90 minutes. They will finish when everyone present has had the opportunity to have their say.
For more information, contact: Jeremy Cooper by email: jhc1954@btinternet.com
Planning applications have been submitted for the installation of an 85 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Elvanfoot, in the field opposite 2 homes on Leadhills Road and very close to 2 other homes on Dumfries Road. See the overall plan below
The site boundary is only 55 metres from the nearest property, and the nearest battery units are just 140 to 180 metres from these 4 properties.
These distances are much too close for safety in case of a BESS fire.
National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) says that for BESS planning and design, it must be assumed a fire will occur, and all properties within 1 km which could be affected by fire must be properly considered. But this proposed BESS site is within 500 metres of more than 20 Elvanfoot homes.
With this non-zero fire risk, plus the noise and visual impacts on residents’ amenity, no-one will want to buy a house so close to the BESS, and no banks will lend against a property they could not sell. So these 4 houses are unsaleable, un-mortgageable, and probably uninsurable at an affordable premium. With no willing buyer or lender these 4 houses – their owners’ principal financial asset – are effectively worthless.
Every Crawford, Elvanfoot & Daer resident is invited to fill in the survey overleaf, to have your say about the proposed BESS location. Thank you if you already have!
Please also consider submitting an objection to: planning@southlanarkshire.gov.uk quoting the two planning application reference numbers: P/26/0243 and P/26/0324.
The survey is available to complete online, at: www.crawfordandelvanfoot.co.uk/bess-survey
Crawford, Elvanfoot & Daer, South Lanarkshire, Community Site 