We are getting Annan Harbour back into use

The job is to clear the Harbour of silt accumulated over the last 50 years, to make the harbour a focal point in the town.

Our small but active local group has achieved core money from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF). We are asking for your help with the matched funding that will release the money from the EFF.

Annan Harbour had become just a dumping ground for old mattresses and bikes. An eyesore. We decided to take action!

So we launched a Harbour Festival, inviting local choirs and bands to do the entertainment, local craftworkers and food producers to set up stall, and for the first time in 40 years, got boats to sail in from the Solway. And with community support we have completed a number of projects.

This is the slipway we built!  And these are some of the members of Annan Harbour Action Group. We are all volunteers.

We also got funding to improve the quayside. We have installed 2 noticeboards explaining the fabulous birdwatching in the area, and something about our history. Locally you can see knot, egret, barnacle geese, snipe, redwing, curlew, woodpeckers. We will be installing a birdwatching scope later this year and a seating area.

We have another noticeboard planned. The new C2C, Coast to Coast, long distance cycleway will be starting from Annan Harbour. Taking you from the Forth to the Firth. So the new noticeboard will show all the cycleways and paths, including the Annandale Way, which converge on the town.

Clearing the harbour

The work itself must be done by a specialist contractor as we are close to a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the Solway, just a mile downriver, is a Special Area of Conservation. So we are currently applying for a licence to do this work. Marine Scotland will give the contractor a detailed specification to follow.

We have been going since 2011. All volunteers, including a fireman, a bricklayer, some fishermen, a lab technician, a coachbuilder, a mechanical engineer and an office manager. We are enthusiastic and hardworking.

Why bother?

Annan is an ancient town. Robert the Bruce's ancestors were kings here! Robert Burns worked here! Thomas Carlyle taught here! The town has a great past, and we want to work to get a great future, showing off our history, the beautiful landscape, the fabulous birdwatching, the cycling, the walking. Watch this drone's eye view to see our pretty town and the harbour. As well as the Annan Harbour Festival that we run in May each year (17 May 2014), there is a traditional Riding of the Marches festival on the 1st Saturday in July. Watch the Pipe Bands Parade in 2013

The major employer has closed. So we want to get some new life in the town by getting the harbour open again.

We have a great history. Annan Harbour Action Group believe that opening the harbour will give us a great future. Thank you for your time reading this, and look forward to your support.

This is the problem