Morton (Thornhill)

Fieldworker

Emily Smith

Partners and Contact Organisations

Thornhill Gala Day, Old School Thornhill, Wallace Hall Academy, Dumfries and Galloway Council Libraries, Thornhill After School Lego Club

People’s Parish in the historic Morton Parish, centred around the village of Thornhill, concluded in November 2025 under the direction of fieldworker Emily Smith.

The project in Morton was nominated for the Community Project of the Year at the Scots Trad Awards in December 2025.

Bringing together the community — from interviewing the area’s oldest residents to engaging with local primary school children—Emily and other project volunteers worked on a variety of creative, tangible outputs including:

  • Family ceilidh with Shore Road Ceilidh band mid-way through the project

  • Community concert and ceilidh to close the project

  • Constructing local landmarks at the Thornhill After School Lego Club

  • Commissioned songs, tunes, and poems

  • ABC of Local Distinctiveness

  • ‘Thornhill Gala 1950’ – 25 minutes of collated archive footage of Thornhill Gala Parade and Thornhill Agricultural Show