Adrian joined the Beautiful Scotland judging and It's Your Neighbourhood assessing teams in 2016. Adrian has been a gardener by profession for over 20 years having given up the fast pace of city life as a marketing executive for a major telecommunications company. Before moving to Scotland in 2009 he qualified in and taught the subject of horticulture for East Surrey College based in Redhill, taking students through Gardening qualifications in ‘City and Guilds’, later to become 'National Vocational Qualifications'. Adrian also starred in the start-up company POD3 TV’s new gardening series when podcasting was in its infancy in 2007. Adrian has had published articles on his gardens in both the Scottish and UK-wide press and opens two gardens in Fife under Scotland’s open-garden scheme. He continues to provide talks on aspects of horticulture. Adrian has a special interest in unusual woodland plants and is a keen rosarian.

Alex joined the assessor team in 2023. She has been a keen gardener for several decades and wanted to meet others who care for the outdoor environment as much as she does. Alex is also a volunteer gardener at an outdoor sculpture park near Edinburgh and volunteers for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, maintaining and restoring different wildlife habitats on sites across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Amy completed her degree in Animal Biology in 2008 and is a keen biodiversity gardener. She has had her own allotment in the past and now has her own garden where she grows plants and edibles that encourage wildlife. She currently lives in East Lothian with her young family and works in Horticulture Policy for the Scottish Government. In her spare time Amy enjoys using her garden as inspiration for her art.

Angela trained as a horticulturist and florist 30…something years ago! with Renfrew District Council. She was based in the central nursery in Hawkhead, Paisley, and was part of the propagation team growing on in excess of 350,000 annual bedding plants, perennials and edible crops. Angela successfully ran her own business 'Angela’s Flowers' in Bridge of Weir, engaging closely with her local community, sharing her knowledge, skills and passion in horticulture, and brought three beautiful children up in her back shop!! Angela has also worked within Education, using horticulture as a vehicle to engage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and to support life and core skills and, at the same time, building their confidence and self esteem. She has also worked in horticultural therapy centres, delivering holistic therapeutic horticulture, and is presently employed by the Royal Horticultural Society working within Education, Communities and Funding. Angela thoroughly enjoys supporting and assisting schools, community growing groups and individuals to enjoy growing inside and out across Scotland, and she is a happy gardening granny.

Caroline studied horticulture and garden design at Norwood Hall and Capel Manor in London. She went on to work as a garden designer and gardener in private practice, and later as a lecturer in further and higher education loving passing on her knowledge of horticulture and design. She particularly enjoyed working with her students on gardens at RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court flower shows. In the last few years Caroline has volunteered with the NTS Malleny Gardens, the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and the RHS Green Plan It schools project. She is now a Caley council member and volunteer, and continues to enjoy garden design and sustainable gardening.

Colin has had a varied and considerable experience throughout the public sector over the past 40 plus years. He started with Blackpool Parks as an apprentice in 1972, then gained a place at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, successfully completing the Diploma course (DHE). He then moved down to Warwickshire College as a Horticultural Technician/Instructor, then moved to Dundee City Council in 1983 as a Parks Training Officer. Colin held other roles within Dundee City Council - Assistant Horticultural Officer, Horticultural Officer and latterly Health & Safety Officer for the then Leisure & Communities Department. Since its, inception Colin was heavily involved in the organisation and logistics for the Dundee Flower & Food Festival. Colin took early retirement in September 2011, is a long standing member of the Hardy Plant Society and has been the Vice Convener for the Scotland & Northern Borders Group of the HPS. Colin judges for Beautiful Scotland as well as assessing for It's Your Neighbourhood.

Fiona's background is in community and market gardening, and she has been involved in community food and growing projects since 2014. Fiona has an MRes in Human Geography and is interested in the connections between the land, people and plants. Her current garden project has been a member of the IYN scheme for several years, and 2024 is her first year as an assessor.

Gregor is a lecturer in Horticulture at SRUC Oatridge Collage (previously lecturing at Dundee and Angus college). He has been a Beautiful Scotland judge and assessor for It's Your Neighbourhood for a number of years.

Ian joined the assessing team in 2015. Ian previously worked for Aberdeen City Council and now works for Aberdeenshire Council as a Landscape Services Officer.

Ian has been assessing, along with his wife Sandra, for many years now, and gives a lot of his time to the initiative.

Jenna is passionate about the environment and actively boosts biodiversity and volunteer involvement through her volunteer coordinator role within a nature reserve. She loves planting trees and native wildflowers, and enjoys the 'untidy-ness' that nature brings. She is in her final year studying Environmental Management and has worked at KSB for just over a year, starting with us in 2023, originally with Juliette, and now within heritage.

Jim enjoys every visit he makes. He is an experienced gardener, having worked allotments for more than 50 years, and has been a director of the Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen for more than 20 years, being a past Chairman of the Society. He is presently involved in running both adult and children’s gardening workshops for the RHSA in conjunction with Duthie Park in Aberdeen, and also leads Cove in Bloom in all their activities. Jim is now on the board of the recently formed Cove Woodland Trust, which bought an area of approx. 16 acres of land and since developed a Community Country Park for the residents of Cove and Altens.

John joined Keep Scotland Beautiful's team of judges and assessors in 2014. After completing Diploma courses in the mid 1970s at West of Scotland Agricultural College and Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, the majority of his working career was within the flower seed trade. Through this work he came into contact with growers and local authorities throughout Scotland, Ireland and Northern England, advising on plant choice for numerous winning entries in Beautiful Scotland, Ulster in Bloom and Yorkshire in Bloom. John enjoys sharing his knowledge and experiences with others, drawing on over sixty years of involvement with community gardening activities.

Joy joined the judging team in 2018, and the assessing team in 2024. She is a farmer’s daughter from the Scottish Borders with a degree in Agriculture from Edinburgh University. She spent time at Nottingham university undertaking post graduate research in beef cattle nutrition before joining Unilever and trading in the international commodity and financial futures markets. In 2004 Joy gained a diploma in Garden Design with distinction and set up Goose Green Design. She designs gardens across the Lothians and Edinburgh and sometimes further afield. Joy has three sons, enjoys gardening, cooking, singing and walking and lives in East Lothian.

Linda has worked in the charity sector for over 15 years. In 2017 she gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Level 2 certificate in the principles of horticulture, having studied at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. She has loved sharing her knowledge and passion for gardening with the It's Your Neighbourhood groups since becoming an assessor in 2016.

Lindsay grew up in Dumfries and Galloway but spent most of her adult life living and working in urban environments. Living in big cities gave her a deep appreciation of the need for green spaces for communities to enjoy. She moved back to Dumfries and Galloway over two years ago and says it is a real joy to be back living in such a truly beautiful area of Scotland. She has previous employment experience as a Criminal Justice Social Worker. Lindsay currently works for the National Trust for Scotland and understands the importance of nurturing and protecting nature for the benefit of current communities as well as future generations to come. She loves spending time with her family in nature and you will often find them down by the sea. Lindsay joined our assessing team in 2023.

Lisa joined the assessor team in 2022. She has many years’ experience in growing fruit, vegetables and flowers in her allotment and set up a community growing project in her village. She currently works with Keep Scotland Beautiful as a Heritage Officer and is passionate about both built and natural heritage. She is also a Green Flag Award assessor.

Lorraine has had an allotment since 2002, inspired to have her own growing space after studying Environmental Science. She worked for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, supporting young people’s interest in wildlife and conservation and later supported students and staff at a local university to develop their own food growing area on campus. She is currently the garden representative for her local resident’s association, working with her neighbours to enable wildflowers to grow in the common garden areas. Lorraine joined our assessor team in 2024.

Malcolm Macqueen is chair of Organic Growers of Fairlie and has many years of sustainable community gardening experience. He encourages other groups and individual garden visitors in their garden development.The garden is developing a community woodland and he has been involved with others in the growing and planting of thousands of native broadleafs and Scottish aspens in the area. He involves young people in tree planting and in developing their own gardening skills. He is also involved in the Scottish Allotments and Gardening society. Malcolm joined our assessor team in 2023.

Morag has always been interested in gardening, forestry and ranger work, but did not actually work as a gardener until later in life. Having tried many jobs, gardening was the one that kept her interest, as you never stop learning. She worked as a gardener at Holyrood Palace, where she completed her apprenticeship with a HNC Horticulture. She now works at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) working within Education, Communities and Funding. She loves interacting with schools and communities to spread the joy of growing plants and taking the fear out of gardening!

Nancy Macqueen is a founder member and secretary of Organic Growers of Fairlie which is a sustainable community garden and and has been involved in developing and helping members with their gardening for fifteen years. She has been very involved in working with local primary and high schools. Nancy has organised activities for them and helped them attain the John Muir Award and a National 5 in Rural Skills and Caley Grow and Learn certificates. She is also very keen on encouraging pollinators and has helped develop areas at the garden and outwith for the community to enjoy and benefit from taking away herbs and vegetables.

Penny joined the judging and assessing team in 2018. She has been working in the green collar industry for over twenty years, both here in Scotland and in the United States. After moving to the U.S.A. she became involved in community gardening projects as a way to meet new people; through these community projects she discovered her love of plants. Rather than return to her nursing career, Penny embarked on her horticultural journey, fitting in horticultural work and courses around family life. She has worked in various roles within the horticultural field including landscaper, garden designer, landscape crew supervisor and retail. After moving back to the UK Penny embarked on a degree program at SRUC Edinburgh. After two years she joined the staff at the Edinburgh campus as a Horticultural Technician/Instructor, while she continued to study for her degree which she obtained in 2015. Penny is interested in sustainable practices within the green collar industry. Of particular interest to Penny is the use and design of native plants juxtaposed with non-native plants to create diverse planting schemes. Penny also has a passion for composting!

Peter joined the judging team in 2022. He was been an It's Your Neighbourhood assessor for many years. Peter is also a Green Flag judge and he worked in the Environment Department of Dundee City Council. While at the council, Peter was heavily involved in the Bonnie Dundee entry into Beautiful Scotland, and he now volunteers for a number of It's Your Neighbourhood groups in the city.

Sandra has been judging for Beautiful Scotland for many years, and also assesses for It’s Your Neighbourhood. She is heavily involved in Forres in Bloom and is a retired head teacher. Sandra’s love of gardening goes back to her own childhood. A primary teacher by profession she became head teacher at Applegrove Primary School in Forres where she and her colleagues founded the school gardening club in 1993. Applegrove won a series of awards for school gardening and became a key contributor to Forres in Bloom. When Sandra retired she joined the Forres in Bloom committee and in 2007 she became chair and founded the Wee FIBees, the junior section of Forres in Bloom who were awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s Young People’s Award in 2011. Forres has been awarded gold medals in Beautiful Scotland, Britain in Bloom and Entente Florale Europe. Faced with severe cuts in provision by the local authority, Sandra and her colleagues recently took over responsibility for the floral displays and now raise 30,000 plants in their nursery. This led to an award for overcoming adversity from the Britain in Bloom judges in 2017. Forres was voted to have Scotland’s most beautiful High Street in 2017. Sandra received the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society’s Andrew Duncan medal in 2013 and in 2017, with her husband Ian, a joint Community Champion Award from the RHS.

Sandra works for West Dunbartonshire Council and has assessed for It's Your Neighbourhood for a number of years. She is involved in the Dalmuir Park Restoration project.

Sandy was employed with Aberdeen City Council for 40 years, taking early retirement in 2019, and now works for Aberdeenshire Council. He started off as an apprentice gardener and worked his way up through the ranks. He was responsible for development and local strategies within the city relating to green spaces and community involvement. Sandy was the Chair of Aberdeen’s Allotment Forum, past chair of Aberdeen in Bloom and enjoys giving talks on parks and gardens to local groups in the North East. Sandy enjoys all the ‘In Bloom’ campaigns and has been involved one way or another with ‘In Bloom’ initiatives for over 35 years, taking up a judges' role for Beautiful Scotland some years ago. He is also a Green Flag judge and It's Your neighbourhood assessor. He firmly believes in supporting both new and established communities, not only to engage in their local environment but, as he has seen all over the country in his judging, communities taking ownership and making major differences to their local area. Sandy is very active in his local Rotary Club and is his Club’s Environmental Officer.

Sara has been assessing for a number of years.

Sarah joined the list of assessors in 2014 and enjoyed her assessment visits so much she took on the challenge again, becoming a judge a few years ago. It can be a challenge juggling work and life, but meeting people and being shown round gardens, allotments, parks, and village streets is an inspiration. Sarah was a part of a group that achieved Outstanding for their woodland garden for Its Your Neighbourhood, so knows what the groups are going through. Sarah is a committee member for Dunbar in Bloom, which gained a Silver medal award at its first attempt in Beautiful Scotland in 2014. Sarah works as a senior nurse within East Lothian, is involved with the family farm in the Scottish Borders, enjoys visiting other people's gardens in the National garden scheme, tends her own herbaceous border and shows Jacob sheep at local agricultural shows in her spare time!

Simon has been a Countryside Ranger in Aberdeen City Council for almost twenty years, the last two working as the Countryside Officer. He loves exploring forests and hills in his spare time, and at work has enjoyed leading hundreds of educational and practical conservation sessions for all ages. Simon finds peaceful times shaping and tending to his bonsai collection, while fending off the attentions of his young son and family cat. He joined our assessor team in 2024.

Siobhán is originally from Toronto, Canada but came to Scotland in 2004. She has a BScH in Plant Science, a MRes in Crops for the Future, and a PhD in Plant Epidemiology. She is currently self employed as a researcher and science writer with a focus on agriculture, ecology, and climate change. She also has a keen interest in gardening and has had an allotment plot in Dundee since 2016. Her first year assessing IYN for Keep Scotland Beautiful was in 2022, and she found the entire experience inspiring and motivating as it highlights the immense amount of work going on at the community level to protect and maintain local environments, as well as connecting and supporting different groups of people.

Steven is the Environmental Manager at Aberdeen City Council. He is passionate about supporting community groups across Aberdeen in the Beautiful Scotland and It’s Your Neighbourhood as he sees the campaigns as being very important to what the council does - and he loves being part of it! Aberdeen's 'in bloom' partner numbers are growing all the time and Steven sees this as key to the on-going success of the Environment Department's services. Steven joined the assessing team in 2015 - after encouraging most of his team to become judges or assessors, he thought it was high time he did the same!

Terry is a judge for Beautiful Scotland and an assessor for It's Your Neighbourhood. Terry worked with Aberdeen City Council in various positions within the Links and Parks, Leisure and Recreation, Contracting Services and finally as an Area Officer in Environmental Services involved in all aspects of Horticultural for 42 years. In this time Aberdeen was an entrant in Beautiful Scotland and Britain in Bloom winning various awards. Terry retired in 2010, and is now involved with Slopefield Allotments entry to Its Your Neighbourhood, and encouraging and assisting other groups in Aberdeen to become involved in Its Your Neighbourhood. He thinks it is good to get people involved in their neighbourhoods as it makes a huge difference to the area they live in. Terry has been a Beautiful Scotland Judge and an Its Your Neighbourhood Assessor for over six years now, meeting great people and seeing beautiful displays (sometimes the weather does not do its best for the community or judge on the day!). Terry grows annuals and herbaceous plants to exhibit at various Flower Shows; if he is not showing he judges 'Cut Flowers' at several Flower Shows in the area. Terry has been involved with the Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen for the past 26 years and Chairman from 2010 to 2013 - the society run a Spring and Summer show annually. In 2014 Terry received a Certificate of Merit from the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society and in 2017 a Community Champion award from the Royal Horticultural Society.

Vinciane joined the assessor team in 2024. She is passionate about gardening for nature and wildlife.

Wendy has been a volunteer in her own village of East Haven for over 30 years and became involved with Beautiful Scotland in 2014. Her passion for communities and the environment has led her to become involved with other groups, both in Angus and across Scotland. She is an Assessor and Judge, and also represents coastal communities on the Marine Litter Strategy Working Group.

Wendy joined the assessor team in 2024. As a recently retired nurse lecturer, Wendy is keen to continue to meet new people, and to work together to create and maintain welcoming, engaging spaces within the local community. Wendy has worked as a volunteer in a range of organisations, including youth organisations, Red Cross, and a volunteer vaccinator during Covid. Gardening and flower crafts have been Wendy’s passion for many years, and she strongly believes that the benefit these activities bring to our mental and physical health cannot be overstated. Wendy is a volunteer in her local park, serving on the Friends of Barshaw Park Committee for 6 years.

Wendy has been a keen gardener since childhood and was a founder member of Cove in Bloom. She helps run regular gardening workshops for the Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen in conjunction with Duthie Park for both adults and children, and has been Treasurer for the RHSA since 2009. She is now treasurer of the Cove Woodland Trust which has bought and maintains a tract of land for the community of Cove and Altens, which has been turned into a community park and woodland. Wendy started assessing for It's Your neighbourhood in 2017 and enjoys meeting other groups, offering a helping hand where it is welcomed.