Community projects praised for work in the great outdoors

Three community projects in Perthshire have been praised for their efforts.

The woodland activity sessions for the dementia project, the junior rangers project and the refurbishment of Perth Crematorium have all received accolades in the Designing Futures Together awards.

Woodland activity sessions for the dementia walked away with the top gold prize at the awards ceremony.

The award was given to the group in the tackling inequalities and improving health category at the awards ceremony.

A silver award in the local matters category was then given to the junior rangers programme, which has seen the community greenspace rangers working with pupils at Pitlochry High School.

Community greenspace rangers and junior rangers from Pitlochry have been able to demonstrate a good partnership and shown the positive impact this can have on rural communities.

The programme is mainly organised by the school and is supported financially by the Cairngorms National Park and aims to create management plans and community driven projects in the outdoors.

Finally, the refurbishment of Perth Crematorium was given a bronze award in the service innovation and improvement category.

The crematorium, which was built in the 1960s, underwent a £3 million refurbishment and extension to create an improved, modern and energy efficient facility, designed to meet demand for the next 40 years.

Other local authorities have since been coming to visit the crematorium so best practice can be shared and the Scottish Government’s crematorium inspector deemed the revamp as an example of good design and practice.

Throughout the project, the bereavement services team at Perth and Kinross Council consulted with property services, the energy team, the contractor, funeral directors and celebrants to make sure bereaved families experienced as little disruption as possible.