About The Zone

The Zone (formerly known as Castle Douglas Community Centre) is run by a Board of Trustees elected from its membership. We have around 400 members and 600 users a week. The Centre is run by the people for the people. We are a registered charity and operate as a Development Trust. Our primary aim is to ensure that the Zone is able to thrive and prosper for the people of Castle Douglas and the surrounding communities.

History Lesson!

The Zone was a Community Centre run by a Management Committee for many decades and owned by the Council. However, Castle Douglas Community Centre originally started out life as a school one of four in Cotton Street. One of our buildings was commissioned by the Kelton School Board in 1873 and built in 1875 by architect James Barbour [the twin brother of the founder of Barbour’s in Dumfries].

James also designed the Town Hall in Castle Douglas along with many other fine buildings in the area. In 1910 a second school was also built on the site. The four Schools of Cotton Street consisted of the current main building opened in 1910, the Annexe building next door (1873), the former Free Church school (1844) now private property and the Catholic school (also a private residence).

Our aim is to take the history of the four schools as a basis and education as a theme, to trace changing social history over time, linking in with other interesting and relevant stories along the way. We are aware there are many local people who have memories and material which could be invaluable to us, and hope to contact them over the next few months.The two trustees running the project are Morag Chisholm and Lindsy Bruce and would welcome any help with information and can be reached through the main contact details for the Zone.