Bonnybridge residents work together to revive community garden

Bonnybridge Community Council (BCC) members had originally arranged to revive the village’s Wellpark Terrace and Memorial Garden in March, however, that plan had to be altered when the scale of the coronavirus pandemic became clear.

The sprucing up of the green space, which spans across 20 plots over two gardens, was put on hold until lockdown restrictions were eased.

When Falkirk Council ended its community planting programme, BCC members opted to use the local authority’s scrap plants to do the job themselves.

They also raised funds to make more permanent, environmentally friendly changes to the memorial and sunken gardens.

Members also realised £9000 in funding from the National Lottery, £2000 from Falkirk Council and £500 courtesy of Scotmid.

The group then hired professional gardener Nick Trull to carry on the initial work and see the project through to completion.

John McGregor, BCC convenor, said: “We decided to aim for perennial plants, low-maintenance, high-pollen value with an eye for an educational content for schools.

“We have had a positive reaction from residents. We’re very pleased indeed. We had a rocky road as we’re just a voluntary group.

“We had it all set up for March and when Covid-19 hit it knocked the feet from us. We had to decide whether to abandon the project or make a try for it later in the year.

“There were three major problems: Covid-19, theft of plants and Falkirk Council applying pesticide to the roadside which killed plants.

“Instead of having community input we had to leave it to Nick and we just worked in the background giving him directions.

“The motivation is to have something really valuable both to wildlife and the community. We’ve had tremendous support from the community.

“I would like to thank the funders, CED Stone Landscape and our members but also Fiona Russell and Lee Gillespie who are part of the sub-committee looking at this.”

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