Scottish groups to participate in new RHS community awards

Five of the groups we worked with through our Beautiful Scotland activity last year have been put forward to the 2021 UK RHS Community Awards.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) will celebrate community gardening across the UK through the RHS Community Awards this year.

The new virtual awards replace the RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals competition for 2021 – for the first time in the campaign’s 57-year history - and will see Britain in Bloom groups recognised for their efforts to transform their local areas.

Last year, nine in every ten groups carried on gardening, maintaining our all-important green spaces and harnessing their skills to help others, from growing food to lifting people’s spirits via imaginative planting displays.

A total of 63 groups will participate across five categories, including food growing, helping wildlife and bringing people together, having been nominated by one of the 16 Britain in Bloom UK regions and nations, including five from Scotland.

Five will represent Scotland - Aberdeen Communities Together, The People’s Project in Dumfries, Brighten up Kirkconnel, Kinnesswood in Bloom and North Berwick in Bloom. 

Groups will submit evidence digitally in up to three award categories to a panel of Bloom and RHS horticultural, wildlife and environmental experts.  

The categories are:

• Nourishing Your Community - Growing, sharing or enjoying food with others
• Nature-friendly Gardening - Creating habitats and using wildlife-friendly gardening practices
• Green Solutions – Tackling environmental challenges such as climate change, air pollution and flooding
• Cultivating Your Community – Bringing people together by involving a wide cross-section of the community
• Planting with Purpose - Addressing specific challenges such as transforming a neglected area or reducing antisocial behaviour

Barry Fisher, CEO of Keep Scotland Beautiful said, “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to put forward five of our Beautiful Scotland groups into the 2021 UK RHS Community Awards this year. I’d like to congratulate the groups and wish them luck in these difficult and challenging times.

“Never before have good quality, clean and green spaces been so important to our economy and our own personal health and wellbeing. The groups with their hard-working volunteers, make our neighbourhoods, our cities, towns and villages, indeed our country so much better for the efforts they put in, and they all go that extra mile to pull their communities together through horticulture, looking after the environment and, of course, having fun along the way.”

Kay Clark, RHS Community Development Manager said: “We’ve been truly inspired by the creativity and ingenuity that volunteers have shown throughout the pandemic, supporting their communities while observing the social distancing rules.

“While we’re not able to run the Britain in Bloom UK Finals competition this year, the RHS Community Awards will shine a light on groups’ fantastic efforts during a challenging time.” 

The results of the RHS Community Awards, including the most outstanding entries in each category, will be announced at the end of September with all participants receiving certificates.