Charity garden set to grow after award win

Prize will help clear rubble and refuse from land for an orchard and beehives

A Kinross-shire garden charity is set to blossom after winning an inaugural competition offering a lifeline to community causes across Courier Country.

Milnathort and Kinross Allotments Association (MKAA), which aims to promote nature and gardening to everyone in the community, has won the first ever Binn Group Charity Clean-Up Competition.

The Binn Group, an independent recycling and waste management company based in Glenfarg, had pledged a manpower and services package worth £2,000 to clean up for a worthy cause.

The competition attracted entries from across Tayside and Fife, with judges finally selecting MKAA as the worthy winner.

The prize will allow vegetation and rubble to be removed from MKAA’s three-acre site near Dobbies Garden Centre at Turfhills, making way for an extended community garden featuring a new sensory garden, a forest garden, community orchard and beehives.

MKAA formed in 2013 and in a short time the group has managed to create 30 allotments and a community garden at the Turfhills site.

The prize will allow them to press ahead with the next phase of the community scheme.

Association treasurer Rory Stewart said: “The site is so contaminated by old concrete, building materials, rubble and weeds that we were taking one step forward and two back in our efforts to clear it.

“The Binn Group prize will reenergise everyone and leave us with a much more manageable site on which to dig, landscape and plant.

“Everyone involved is absolutely delighted to win this generous prize and we can’t thank Binn Group enough for choosing our charity. We look forward to pressing ahead with them as soon as possible.”

Binn Group chief executive Allan MacGregor said: “The project touches all parts of the Milnathort and Kinross community - people who have never gardened before through to the dedicated green-fingered experts.

“It’s also a place where those with special needs can work alongside the young and elderly and enjoy the beautiful space created by everyone.

“We at Binn Group are delighted to help drive the project onto its next phase.

“Clearing sites and removing waste can be a daunting task for a charity or community group but this is all in a day’s work for Binn Group and we’re happy to supply men and resources to tackle this problem for such a worthwhile cause.”

The prize package includes five operatives for a day as well as skips and removal of all waste from the site.

RORY STEWART, ASSOCIATION TREASURER