Darvel is well know throughout Ayrshire for its volunteer groups. We have the Community Council, the Darvel Improvement Group, the Gala Team, the Dinner Ladies, Darvel Trust, the Darvel Area Regeneration Team, the Darvel Hub, the Darvel Lottery, the Darvel Music Company and other youth, special interest and religious groups supporting our community.

Such diversity and support is uncommon for a small town and is one of the reasons why our volunteering is the envy of many other Ayrshire towns and communities.

It can, however, lead to fragmentation and different groups competing for the same space. This can be a problem when it comes to raising funds and communicating to the people of Darvel, Priestland and the surrounding area. Our Facebook Groups help us to communicate but not everyone who is online is a fan of or participates in social media.

For these reasons, a Darvel Strategy Team was established earlier this year. Its remit is to coordinate activities, especially fund raising, to set priorities as identified in the 2020/25 Community Action Plan and to ensure that our energy and funds are spent on what is really important, practical and of significant community value.

We are pleased to announce ILOVEDARVEL.COM, a new website for the community which, we hope, over time will become the ‘go-to online place’ for all things Darvel.

It includes news, articles, a local business directory, public papers, photo galleries, a community event calendar, summary pages for local volunteering groups and links to social media groups. Over time more content will be added. Please visit our site and bookmark it for all of your community engagement, volunteering and information needs.