Convener’s welcome

I am delighted to welcome visitors to the Dundee Flower & Food Festival 2019, my first as Convener of the Flower and Food Festival.

The Festival, now widely regarded as the best competitive horticultural show in Scotland, will again play host to displays of some of the finest flowers, fruit and vegetables in the country. The highlight of this year’s competitions is likely to be the Scottish Begonia Society’s 12 Board British Championship, displaying dozens of plate-sized Begonia flowers.

I am delighted to welcome a variety of wellknown guests over the weekend. Our celebrity gardeners on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September are Carole Baxter and George Anderson, presenters from Beechgrove Garden. In the Food Festival Demonstration Kitchen, there will be a MasterChef theme this year with Winners and Finalists demonstrating over the three days. Some of these include Gary Maclean, Jilly McCord, Jamie Scott and Dean Banks.

Throughout the showground there will be three days of entertainment and activities, including a full programme of music, dance and gardening talks. Full details are contained within the programme.

This year the theme of the Children’s Marquee is Climate Change and Sustainability and throughout the festival we have included a number of new initiatives, including bike stands at the entrance to the festival, improved recycling facilities and for the first time there will be a voluntary no smoking policy within the showground.

I would finally like to thank our sponsors and partners Zero Waste Scotland for sponsoring the cookery demonstration kitchen, Kirkwood Homes for sponsoring the Floral Marquee, Scottish Forestry, Scottish Natural Heritage and Dundee and Angus College.