By Debbie Craig and Frances Coombey
About ten years ago we had the idea to turn an abandoned school in the small rural town of Kirkcudbright in southern Scotland into a centre for the community.
The Johnston is a former school in a prominent position in Kirkcudbright. We did a community consultation and people felt that this historic building should not fall into ruin, and that it should be converted.
Kirkcudbright sits on the doorstep of the Galloway International Dark Sky Park, one of the best places in the world for dark skies and stargazing. Even in the towns and villages surrounding the park there are still incredible skies to see.
Promoting dark skies
Our late colleague Andrew Ward was sitting outside the Johnston school in the rain one day and thought, ‘What do young families do on a rainy day in Kirkcudbright?’
He came up with the idea to make the link to the nearby dark sky park, and the Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium was born.
Kirkcudbright Development Trust raised £2.6m to restore The Johnston building and create the Planetarium.
Some of the £250,0000 award from Wolfson went towards the building project to restore The Johnston, and some went towards the Planetarium, including the dome.
Up and running
We worked with Glasgow Science Centre to put the Planetarium together and train our staff.
There are three sections to the Planetarium. ‘Enjoying Space’ introduces constellations and stargazing, ‘Exploring Space’ is about human exploration, astronauts, and rockets, and ‘Understanding Space’ allows visitors to learn more about maths and physics through phenomena like gravity.
While Covid-19 delayed our opening, we were able to open the Planetarium in summer 2021, and we’ve been hugely popular. The best thing is when people come in and they just say, ‘wow’.
Although we are a visitor attraction, a lot of our visitors are local people who are enjoying this space.
Some local people may have been to school in this building when the Planetarium was the school gymnasium. They may have mixed emotions about returning to their former gym hall, but they come in and it is completely transformed.
More than a Planetarium
This experience is important because Kirkcudbright is in a rural area where a lot of young people can’t access museums. For such a small town, the Planetarium is like something you’d see in Glasgow, Edinburgh or one of the big cities.
The Johnston project is a massive economic impetus for Kirkcudbright. But it’s also about promoting the dark skies area, spreading outwards from the planetarium to the community and the wider region.
We want to draw attention to the beauty of the dark skies here. We’re hoping to build links with the Dark Sky Park and take people out to see the stars. We’re also really excited to get a schools programme going and work with youth clubs to engage local young people with science and with the natural beauty of our area.
And the Planetarium is only part of what The Johnston offers. The building supports a youth programme, a childcare centre and nursery, a hot-desking room, two start-up businesses and community space for local groups.
The Dark Space Planetarium is already making great strides within the local community and wider region. It has provided employment for local young people, it is attracting visitors to the town and the region in general, it is creating some much-needed economic regeneration for the area and it is inspiring our young people.
Debbie Craig is Project Officer for Kirkcudbright Development Trust. Frances Coombey is the Manager of Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium.
Kirkcudbright Development Trust was awarded £250,000 towards the creation of Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium under our funding programme for public engagement with science.
