Linnhe Cringean Keeps Moffat’s High Street on the Calendar

Linnhe Cringean, a Moffat artist and shop owner, was named South of Scotland High Street Hero in the 2024 Scotland Loves Local Awards. The trophy went to the chair of Moffat Promotions Group and a co-owner of 17 Reasons, the Well Street gift shop that sells work by makers from Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Judges were honouring a person. What they described is the unpaid calendar that still puts this small Dumfriesshire town in front of day-trippers, and a shop that exists because stall work became too hard after an MS diagnosis.

South of Scotland Named Her High Street Hero

Scotland’s Towns Partnership, which runs the awards with backing from the Scottish Government, named Cringean the South of Scotland High Street Hero on 25 October 2024. It was the fourth year of the awards. Kimberley Guthrie, STP’s chief officer, tied the win to trade on the street, not to a personality contest.

It’s devotion like Linnhe’s, and the collaborative community spirit it helps to create, which lies at the heart of creating a better future for our towns. Our judges were in no doubt that the many ways in which her work has benefited businesses in Moffat, encouraging locals and visitors alike to get behind them, makes her a real High Street Hero.

Kimberley Guthrie, Chief Officer, Scotland’s Towns Partnership

Her nomination said she speaks up for the town, fits unpaid work around a business, a family and a role as an unpaid carer, and is “humble, but also determined, organised, observant and caring.” It argued that Scottish rural places need schools, jobs that often sit in tourism and the arts, and a sense of community, and that she had led in all three in Moffat.

Cringean called the result “completely out of the blue, a total surprise.” The national towns body later congratulated Cringean as an incredible High Street Hero and pointed to more than 20 years of work on events such as the Duck Race Fun Day and the Christmas Lights Festival.

Market Stalls Gave Way to 17 Well Street

Cringean is a painter, sewer and crafter and a mother of two who has lived in Moffat since 1994. She got to know other makers on the market circuit until an MS diagnosis made those days difficult. In 2014 she joined friends Lydia Larmour and Alexis Johnston and opened 17 Reasons at 17 Well Street.

The shop’s own listing says the three women curate art and craft sourced in Scotland and around the UK, and that many artisans work with them on commission. Jewellery, homewares, accessories, ceramics and art sit on the shelves. They say they know the people behind the products and count many of them as friends. The public Facebook catalogue runs under 17reasonsartsandcrafts.

That is a quiet piece of high-street plumbing. A diagnosis that ended stall days created a year-round counter where makers can sell without standing in a car park. Visitors treat the staff as a tourist desk as well as a till. One early review praised owners who would talk about Moffat, not only about stock.

I’ve always tried to get involved with voluntary work. I feel that if you are part of the community, and get something out of it, then you should give something back. And you really do get out what you put in. I love the camaraderie of being involved. Moffat Promotions Group has been so successful, they are a fabulous team to work with, and I get a lot of joy out of being part of it all.

Linnhe Cringean, artist and co-owner, 17 Reasons

The Committee That Puts Ducks on the Annan

She joined Moffat Promotions Group in the same year the shop opened, and became chair four years later, in 2018. MPG is a small voluntary group that puts on free family events. It also tries to keep Moffat on the map through the pandemic, the cost of living squeeze, and the way social media now shapes tourism. Cringean sits on the Moffat Gala Committee as well, after earlier spells with Babes and Tots, Moffat Academy’s parent teacher association and the town’s Oxfam shop.

THE MOFFAT YEARS

1. 1994: Moves to Moffat and starts in parent groups before PTA and charity-shop shifts.
2. 2014: Opens 17 Reasons with Larmour and Johnston after an MS diagnosis, and joins Moffat Promotions Group.
3. 2018: Becomes MPG chair.
4. 25 October 2024: Receives the South of Scotland High Street Hero award.
5. 24 November 2024: MPG stages the Christmas Lights Festival, with Santa on the church tower and lights at 5pm.
6. 30 November 2025: The Christmas festival returns; Dumfriesshire MSP Craig Hoy thanks the group on the day.
7. 31 May 2026: MPG lists the Duck Race Fun Day at Station Park, midday to 4pm.

When the 2024 award was announced she was photographed with fellow MPG members Larmour, Jan Hughes, Karen Brainthwaite and John Grieve. The trophy sat with a committee, not on a lone desk.

Santa Still Abseils Down the Church Steeple

MPG’s year is built to put people on High Street and Well Street when they might otherwise drive past. The Duck Race Fun Day takes over Station Park. Numbered plastic ducks go into the water and drift toward a finish on the River Annan. The 2026 listing promised food vans, stalls, a face-painter and music, and talked of watching over 1,000 ducks jostle downstream. Free parking and EV chargers sit across the road, with toilets in the park and the independent shops a short walk away.

The Christmas Lights Festival is the other big draw. STP’s winner profile said it features Santa abseiling down a church tower, walking the High Street and talking to children before the lights go on, and that the previous year’s event had more than 55 stalls. On 24 November 2024 the programme ran from noon to 5pm, with shops open, a market, rides, a fancy-dress contest and a best-dressed pet heat. Santa came down the steeple of Upper Annandale Parish Church with help from Moffat Mountain Rescue Team. The fancy-dress winner helped switch the lights on at 5pm.

MPG’S FREE EVENTS

• Duck Race Fun Day: Station Park in late May, with numbered ducks on the Annan and stalls beside the pond.
• Christmas Lights Festival: Late November on the High Street, with Santa, a market and the switch-on.
• Mass Garage Sale: A town-wide clear-out that puts casual spend on local streets.
• Picnic in the Park: A summer gathering that keeps Station Park in the weekly habit of families.
• Midsummer Market: Added in 2024 as a new date for makers and food traders.

That is not a council tourism board. It is a volunteer rota that also has to land musicians, stallholders and a mountain-rescue crew on a Sunday in November.

Who Gains When Makers Sell on Commission?

The award citation talked about businesses. The people with stock in 17 Reasons are a wider set than the three names above the door. Commission selling means a jeweller or ceramicist in another town can reach Moffat walkers without renting a unit on the double high street. The shop does the display, the conversation and the card machine.

That arrangement was still live long after the trophy photos. On 14 March 2026 a Sheffield metalworker posted that new pieces were on their way to 17 Reasons and to a gallery on the Isle of Wight, 400 miles apart. A shop in a town of a few thousand remains a real account on a maker’s dispatch list, not a hobby shelf that closed when the award cycle moved on.

Local independents take the other half of the gain. Duck-race listings point visitors at High Street and Well Street once the pond has had its show. Christmas trading depends on a free festival that fills the pavements before the lights go on. If MPG ever stopped, those weekends would not be replaced by a chain’s marketing budget.

2,497 People and a Double High Street

Cringean told STP, “Moffat is such a community-orientated town.” She put the population at just over 2,500 and said that at one point there were around 60 different groups. “People here like to get on and get things done.”

Official locality counts sit next to that remark. Figures compiled from National Records of Scotland show Moffat had 2,497 people at the 2022 census, taken on 20 March 2022. That is a little below the 2011 count and a little above 2001.

MOFFAT AT THE CENSUS

The 2022 files also record 867 residents aged 65 and over. A town of that size cannot lean on office footfall. It leans on people who already live there, and on drivers who have a reason to stop. Wool history, a spa past and the Moffat Toffee Shop were on the map long before 2014. What MPG and 17 Reasons add is a reason to stop on a specific Sunday, and a counter that sells work you will not find in a mall.

The Events Calendar Did Not Follow the Trophy

South Scotland’s High Street Hero title moved on in 2025 to Hugh Mulgrew in Kilmarnock, for work on vacant buildings and jobs. The Moffat machine did not move with it. On 30 November 2025, Craig Hoy, the MSP for Dumfriesshire, posted from the Christmas festival and thanked Moffat Promotions Group for another successful event.

🎅🎅🎄🎄☀️☀️
Lovely sunny day for an early sighting of Santa at the #Moffat Christmas Festival.
Well done to the Moffat Promotions Group on another successful event. Looking forward to the switch on later! pic.twitter.com/WAujQ0udmR

— Craig Hoy MSP (@CraigWHoy1) November 30, 2025

The 2026 Duck Race Fun Day was listed for 31 May at Station Park. MPG was still posting about its year and inviting favourite memories. STP, now in the sixth year of the awards, closed nominations at 5pm on 14 August 2026. Town of the Year, which went to Oban in 2024 and Paisley in 2025, had a 2026 shortlist of East Kilbride, Falkirk, Fort William, Inverurie and Kirkwall, announced on 21 September 2026, with the 2026 awards, with winners due in October.

Cringean’s trophy is a completed fact from October 2024. The unpaid Sundays, the steeple abseil and the Well Street commission counter are the part that still has to be staffed. In a town of 2,497, that labour is the high street policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many High Street Hero Awards Are Given Each Year?

Scotland Loves Local presents one High Street Hero in each of the eight Scottish Parliament regions, so South Scotland is one title among eight rather than a single national winner. Separate national categories sit beside those regional awards.

When Did Linnhe Cringean Become Chair of Moffat Promotions Group?

She joined the group in 2014, the year 17 Reasons opened, and became chair four years later, in 2018. She was already on the Moffat Gala Committee and had come up through parent groups, the academy PTA and the Oxfam shop.

Who Won the South of Scotland High Street Hero Title in 2025?

Hugh Mulgrew of Kilmarnock received the South Scotland award in 2025 for work redeveloping vacant buildings and bringing jobs into the town centre. Cringean’s 2024 title was not a rolling Moffat hold on the region.

Which Town Won Scotland’s Town of the Year in 2025?

Paisley took Town of the Year in 2025, after Oban won the inaugural honour in 2024. Runners-up in 2025 were Blairgowrie and Rattray, and Newton Stewart.