Supermarket customers can boost Birthplace Museum

The National Trust for Scotland’s Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch the monthly funding scheme, which sees grants of £ 5,000, £ 2,000 and £ 1,000, all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to local outdoor community projects. Greenspace Scotland is working with Groundwork to provide support to communities in Scotland.

Three groups in every Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and this month shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant. The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is one of the groups on the shortlist with its ‘ New Gardens’ community project, which will create a natural garden at the historic Burns Cottage in Alloway, interpreting Robert Burns’ father’s intentions for the smallholding which he called ‘ New Gardens’. The space aims to benefit the community with opportunities to grow vegetables, access scenic walks and engage with their local heritage.

P roperty manag e r Caroline Smith told the Post:“Burns Cottage has always been a central focus of Alloway life and we are looking forward to opening our garden out to the community, giving them access to green space, to grow fresh food and to get to know more about Burns and their local heritage at the same time.”

Voting is open in stores until February 25 and customers can cast their vote using a token given to them at the check- out in store each time they shop.

Tesco’s Bags of Help project has already delivered over £ 25 million to more than 3,000 projects up and down the UK with customers getting the chance to support three different groups each month.

Community Enabler Coordinator at Greenspace Scotland, Emma Halliday added:“We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding and we are looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”