Small pebbles can make big waves, right? And change doesn’t happen overnight – it’s a slow burning, incremental process for the most part, but every so often there are moments when you can really see the change happening. Yesterday the Dumfries Fountain was turned back on after many years without a water supply, and unveiled from behind the metal hoardings that have fenced off a section of the High Street whilst works took place to completely restore this Victorian beauty to it’s original glamour.

I’ve been on the Dumfries Fountain Restoration project team for a few years now on behalf of The Stove Network; my role involving the support and drive for a wider community engagement plan as part of the works, supporting artists and community activists to take part in the project and have their voices heard.

Why this? Why now? What impact does this restoration, care-taking and renewal have on our town? It won’t solve the potholes in the road, or absentee landlords, or sea gulls or long term employment, but as an iconic monument that has stood in the heart of the town for over 100 years, that witnesses and stands as a marker of where we have come from and where we are going – monuments like the fountain are surely worth preserving. We need investment into the town, an approach of care and responsibility for the landmarks that give our everyday a sense of place and identity, and a vision for how our public spaces can be.

As part of the restoration we have realised the importance of telling the story of the fountain, how it came to be here and it’s place in the history of the town – the restoration now completed forms part of this story as we move forward, and to mark this a series of nine bronze floor plaques have been set into the cobbles surrounding the fountain base telling the history of the town through it’s connection to water. With designs inspired by water droplets from the fountain, the textures of the sand out on the Solway and a small nod to cup and ring marks found in the depths of Galloway, their penny-like finish feels in keeping with the space as passersby yesterday were quick to add their own pennies back into the newly refurbished fountain bowls. Over time they will develop their own patina as many feet and weathers move over them.

It’s not been a solo work by any stretch, working first with the creative team at The Stove Network, then writer and historian JoAnne McKay on the texts and dates, pattern maker Ruth Davies on the final patterns and printed elements, Lost Art who led on the casting and finishing works and Stevie at Kirk Masonry on the installation.

Projects like these are only possible with the attention and perseverance of many hands behind the scenes. Kirsten Scott and the St Michael’s Primary School class groups campaigned for years for the works to be undertaken and since those beginnings it’s taken many folk from a wide variety of backgrounds to see the project through, from council teams to the skilled artisans of Lost Art and various specialist contractors amongst many others.

The step over the threshold from bystander into a more active citizenship can be a bit of a leap of faith, but in raising a flag, pitching in, making space for the voices of others to be heard we create the potential for change, the act of making together a town of possibility.

More about The Stove Network and their involvement in the Fountain Project available online here

More about Dumfries and Galloway Council and the Fountain Project available online here

All images artists own.