Making best of it despite difficulties
Comrie in Colour volunteers have been working hard to keep the village looking its best despite the difficulties imposed by the pandemic.
There have been no hanging baskets in the village for over a year and there may never be a return of the vibrant lamppost displays.
Comrie in Colour chair Marie Donnelly explained: “I don’t think we will be going back to the hanging baskets – I don’t think anyone will really.
“There are two reasons why the hanging baskets won’t be back – one is we just don’t have enough people to look after them and the other is funds.
“They are also not the most eco-friendly
... we are concen- trating on what we can work on and, when we can, we will be doing some fundraising Marie Donnelly
way forward.
“We need a team of people to water hanging baskets. We had a huge amount – about 100 baskets. The council did some of them, but we did the rest.
“You need a big truck and a petrol pump to get the water up to them. They use a lot of water and a lot of plants, which then get binned. There’s also the health and safety aspect of clambering up and down on the back of a truck.
“So we are concentrating on what we can work on and, when we can, we will be doing some fundraising.”
The Strath’s local bloom groups have all been hit hard by not being able to raise funds for over 18 months.
Comrie in Colour has instead been knocking its existing flower beds and focal points back into shape.
And the bloom group could do with more volunteers.
Marie continued: “We couldn’t do so much with plants and hanging baskets so we have been renovating a lot of different areas instead, such as the Clach opposite the Post Office.
“We are re- doing that bit which is ongoing and things like our heather beds and borders we are trying to do up again.
“We are short of people so could do with more volunteers.
“No gardening experience is required. We are just looking for anyone willing to help.
“And you don’t have to be here every week. Sometimes there are only two of us – sometimes there are a lot more.
“Monday is our definite ‘work day’, from 2pm to 4pm. We do some Thursdays as well, and we tend to meet at the Field of Refuge.
“We got a new pick-up about a month ago thanks to the village’s Steinmeyer Trust, and we are waiting to get our logo put on that, but our funds are low at the moment as our fundraising activities have been curtailed although we hope to organise a plant sale at some point.”
To find out more about volunteering with Comrie in Colour, ema i l comrieincolour@gmail.com or look out for members working in the village on a Monday afternoon.”