The creation of Welcome Hame - a striking piece of temporary public art on Dumfries High Street - is a fantastic celebration of community and what makes a home.

For not only will The Standard - the building in front of which the artwork currently stands - be a place where people visit and work, but it will be a place where people live too.

Its completion this summer will represent an real statement of intent about the work which Midsteeple Quarter Community Benefit Society is striving to achieve on behalf of its members and for the people of Dumfries. That’s to create a new, vibrant town centre neighbourhood, owned by the community and working in its best interests.

Welcome Hame highlights so much of the hope which exists, not just within our own organisation, but within our wider community.

And the procession which took place to unveil the artwork and announce the naming of 135-139 High Street as The Standard stood testament to that.

Piper leads a flag-flying procession as town crier makes historic proclamation

Children from Loreburn and St Andrew’s RC primary schools played an important part in creating Welcome Hame, sharing their thoughts with artists Hannah Fox and Kate Drummond about what makes a home.

So it was fitting that about 90 of them followed well-known Dumfries bagpiper Callum Watson and town crier Phylip de la Maziere at the helm of the procession from The Plainstanes to The Standard, flying flags as they walked.

Thanks to support from Dumfries and Galloway-based art and craft organisation Upland and funding from The National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Midsteeple Quarter was able to commission Hannah and Kate to work on the project.

It was work which had community at its core, both in creating a visible piece of art which celebrated what townsfolk are working towards, but which inspired the choice of a name for the development taking shape. The Standard - both representing the site’s history as the former home of the Dumfries & Galloway Standard newspaper and in pointing to its future as setting the standard for a fresh beginning - feels appropriate in so many ways.

Community engagement in this not only involved the schoolchildren, but people Hannah and Kate met with on the High Street, taking part in events such as the annual Guid Nychburris celebrations.

‘We wanted to know what represents home . . . It’s all about home’

***Artists Kate Drummond, left, and Hannah Fox. Click below to hear Hannah chat about Welcome Hame and Midsteeple Quarter***

Welcome Hame: A journey of creation

‘This is only the beginning’

We were delighted to see many members and supporters of Midsteeple Quarter’s work at our celebration event on the High Street.

The crowd - which included the Provost of Dumfries, Councillor Maureen Johnstone - heard not only from Hannah and Kate about the work which had taken place, but from Peter Kormylo, the chair of Midsteeple Quarter.

Speaking to the audience about The Standard, he said: “It is our hope that the homes and enterprise spaces being created will set the high standard of what Midsteeple Quarter is striving for.

“This will not only be a place where people come to visit or work. It will be a building which people call home too.

“And that is what we believe is key to a better future; a town centre with a living neighbourhood where people have pride in the place - giving greater confidence to those who would like to do business here too. The Standard is only the beginning.”