The community garden was established a few short months ago, in spring 2022. We started off with a totally empty green space and since then we have filled a small area with 21 wooden planters.
In summer 2022, with the help of Dandelion Trust Funding and generous efforts of members of the community, we were able to get the planters filled up and fruit and veg planted. Since then, we have all been hard at work looking after the garden with watering, weeding and general care.
One condition of receiving our funding from the Dandelion Trust was to hold a Harvest Festival. So, within a short 6 to 8 weeks, we pulled together the festival. Within that short time, we had plenty of meetings and planning and on the 10th of September we managed to pull off that special day!
We had many free fun activities for the community to enjoy including 2 bouncy castles, face painting, henna tattoos, African hair braiding, children’s art, a craft table and the amazing band Northern Flights who entertained for all ages, young and old.
We also had free hot food celebrating many cultures, served on the day. This was all possible thanks to funding from Aberdeen city council.
The day was enjoyed by the local community as the sun was beaming down and people were content sitting on the grass, eating good food and having a good blether with one another.
We also put on a few tables to fundraise for future planning including bake sales, tombola and guess the sweets in the jar. In total we raised a whopping £277.30, this will be put towards any future purchases for the garden.
We hope in the future to expand and make more options for different types of areas within the garden for all ages to enjoy.
The garden is open for all the community to enjoy and as part of this we hope it will promote healthy eating for families and especially with the cost-of-living crisis at the moment, we hope this also takes some pressure off families and individuals as every little counts. We also hope it will build community bonds and aid positive mental health.
Mark Lovie, Fersands Fountain Project Coordinator commented. “We are very pleased to support the Woodside Garden Group. They have made such a big impact in quite a short period of time.
“The group have managed to gather materials and create a beautiful garden space which really does improve the look of the area.
“Its also great to see them being rewarded with a great crop of vegetables, flowers and fruit. We look forward to working with them in the years to come, to help make further improvements in the community. Safer pathways, new park benches, community mural, more growing spaces, there are so many ideas to look forward to in the months and years ahead!”
