RENTON tree surgeon Patrick Muir got a surprise last week when he won the Provost Civic Award for Arts and Culture.

Patrick, from Dalquhurn, became something of a local celebrity when he started carving fairy houses into tree stumps around Balloch Park, near Robin House.

The 42-year-old, who works for West Dunbartonshire Council, has gained the attention of hundreds people throughout the area, with the intricate houses.

The carving all began when Patrick, who works for West Dunbartonshire Council, would carve tree stumps from the trees he removed from resident's gardens.

He told the Reporter about his carving journey: "I started the forest carving in June last year when my partner bought me a carving bar. It really goes back to when I would be removing trees from people's houses for work though and I didn't want to just leave them with a stump so I'd ask if they wanted me to carve it in to a mushroom.

"I had started off with the fairy houses for my girls and it kind of snowballed from there. I do a bit of volunteering for Robin House and seeing the stumps in the forest, you know, they look a bit rubbish so I wanted to change that.

"The reaction from the public and from my employer as well has been fantastic.”

He added that although he was the won to win the award he felt there were others who were just as deserving.

He said: It feels a bit surreal to have won, I don't feel deserved of it to be honest. There was another gentleman, Bryan Marshall, who I think was really worthy, he works with Alzheimer patients and set up a choir.

"I'm really happy to have won it though, it's amazing. I was a bit taken aback when they said my name though. My girls were there and they were really chuffed for me. When they called my name my youngest was even crying.

"The girls have been a part of the whole process as well, right from the beginning."

The girls, Aila, 10, and Leah, 13, inspired Patrick to create a story for each of the houses he carved, which can be found on Google Maps, along with the fairy trail at: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1tgX2XTxZm88SqIyKfjNqaX_YpAc&ll=56.009978222893494%2C-4.581104516406299&z=16.

The next big addition to the trail will be Gathianth the dragon, who Patrick is slowly making progress to reveal. The tale of Gathianth reads: “Gathianth was trapped by the fairies and entombed inside a 200-year-old Beech tree, until around 15 years ago when the tree was blown over in a terrible storm and Gathianth has slowly started to appear once more.”

There has been a great deal of support from the community as well, Caroline Stewart set up a Just Giving page to raise some money to get Patrick more tools.

Adding his thanks to Caroline, Patrick said he plans to donate £350 of £850 that was raised to Robin House.