Gold win for monumental garden effort
Ambitious planter triumphs
Adults and children in Raploch have struck gold thanks to their green fingers.
The ROC’N Garden Group, a group made up from adults in the local community and children from the three Raploch schools and nursery, entered the National Gardening Scotland Pallet Competition again recently.
They were delighted, at the fourth attempt, to finally to win a gold, having had a bronze and two silvers in previous years.
The garden volunteers showed off their winning planter - with a Wallace Monument theme - at the Raploch Campus last week. The community regeneration charity’s Connect Project helps members of the community build resilience and tackle loneliness and social isolation by helping them be active in their community.
The garden group is one of its most popular activities. Adult members of the community meet weekly with children from the eco groups of the three local primary - Raploch, Our Lady’s and Castleview School (for children with additional support needs) and Raploch Nursery to work together on the school gardens. They also work on the gardens at local Forth Bank Care Home, including working with residents to create a ‘Memories Garden’. Some of their favourite plants were included in this year’s competition planter. Connect project coordinator Marie Urquhart said: “This year our young gardeners wanted to be very ambitious and create a planter celebrating the 150th anniversary of Stirling’s iconic Wallace Monument which stands proud over Raploch’s school/ community campus.
“This was quite a task for our adult gardeners but they rose to the challenge and built this wonderful Wallace Monument planter at their weekly pallet recycling workshop with our partners at Raploch Community Enterprise.
“The group then worked to show how gardening brings all the schools and generations together, using local plants where ever possible, including some grown by the group from seed to ensure long flowering season beyond the competition.
“The colour scheme represents the school colours - purple, blue, green and red - as do the ROC’N mosaics created by the children.”