It's Been A While....

The first day of winter?

Recycling the rain water!

Sitting in the story circle

Getting the chance to climb the tree now all the leaves have gone

The nursery love the labyrinth

I've not posted anything on the BLOG for quite a while. However, the time that's gone by has given everything in the garden a chance to settle...and grow! The children have been having a great time using the space. The P5s use it most days for their daily fitness and have also been out there with their rain gauges to measure how much rainfall we have had. Lots and lots is the answer to that one. Here are some of our most recent pictures.

More Beechgrove Magic

Here is another video of some of the work that went on to complete Room to Grow - or NEARLY complete it ....

They came, They Sowed, They Planted.

The last two weeks have been pretty hectic. There was a lot of work to do in preparation for the Beechgrove team's arrival at the end of August. Filming was from Aug 31st until September 3rd.

It was fun!

It was exciting!

It was exhausting!

Look at our first video montage to see how things went before, during and after filming.

Ross Contractors

Ross Contractors, who are based in East Calder, were on site today installing the play equipment supplied for us by Jupiter Play. The equipment looks stunning already so I can't wait until it is fully installed.

The boys from Ross Contractors worked really hard in horrible weather conditions. They'll be back again tomorrow to finish the job.

Bring on The Rifles!

Thank you to Ted Coxon for ensuring we had a good number of soldiers from 3Rifles working on the site today. Their presence ensured a huge amount of work was completed.








The boys take a well deserved rest and try out the new benches which have been built by A4e.

Fun In the Sun

It was a beautiful day so some of the pupils went outside to have a run round the maze and a dance on the stage!

Keep The Garden Tidy

Thanks to Edinburgh City Council who have donated a bin for our garden. That'll help us to keep the garden tidy!

Magic Monday!

A lot happened on the site today. Ronnie and Derek from SCOTBARK came along and built the maze for us using FILTREXX sock. The sock has been stuffed with compost and grass seed so very soon we will have a lovely grassy maze.

The end product!

Jordan and Thomas try out the maze.

It's All Goin' On!

There are so many things that have been happening over the past few days that I'm not actually sure where to begin. I think I'll post some photos and videos to let you see for yourself!

Friday 21st August

The P5 and 6s have another go at perfecting their Hooping routine!

Saturday 22nd August

The beautiful view when you lie on the deck!

Sunday 23rd August

Thanks to the staff at Williamson's Garden Centre, Uphall. They were tremendously helpful when we produced our list of goods that we needed to buy!

Thanks guys!

The weather was AWFUL today! Still. Come rain or more rain....you can always have something to eat and another BONFIRE!

Thanks to David Bewsey and Peter Gray for coming along and getting stuck into the task of clearing the weeds.

The Room to Grow P5 Appeal

P5 worked very hard on a challenge activity today. They had to come up with a 20 second appeal to ask for people to come and support the work going on in the community garden. The children had to come up with their own success criteria and then each group developed a presentation.

Here is the appeal that best met the criteria! Well done girls.

BTCV

The team from BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) were back with us again today. They did a brilliant job completing the task of laying the pathways! They'll be back with us again on Thursday when they'll be tackling a different task.

A4e

Here are some of the members of the A4e team.... but where's Alex?
They have been working on the site for a number of days now and we really appreciate the work that they have been doing to support our project. Most of the seating that is going into the garden will have been built, painted and fitted by this fantastic group of people.

The Lone Gardener

Thanks again to David Bewsey. He came along to the garden on Sunday and was the lone gardener clearing away more of the weeds!

An Army of Helpers

Thanks to the boys from 3Rifles who came down to help in the garden for a couple of hours on Friday. Their input made sure that another section of the paths were laid!

Give Us Some Power!

Sinky and Steven got stuck into the school playground! They need to dig out a deep trench so that we can link into the school and get a power and water supply into the garden!

Sinky tries to escape!

A WOW Day!

There was a lot happening on site today. It was a real WOW day. There was support today from A4e, BTCV, The Beechgrove Garden and, of course, Kev and Sinky were there doing their stuff! Look at these pictures to see just how much things have progressed.

Help from A4e

Action for Employment (A4e) are another group who are fully supporting our garden development. Find out more about the work they are doing for us as the project progresses.

Here are some of the boys working with Kev to lay the edges for the paths.

A Capital Pond

Have a quick look at our pond - or rather what WILL be our pond!


Neil Petrie and Neil Sandilands and a team from Capital Skills in Edinburgh are developing the pond area for us, including sourcing pond plants for us and building a grid that will cover the top of the pond. This will enable the children to safely study the pond life.

Thanks to MKM Building Supplies

MKM Building Supplies, based at Longstone in Edinburgh, has been very supportive of our project, providing a massive amount of materials at a very good price! Here are some pictures of the materials being delivered to the site.

You've Been Framed!

Kev and Sinky have done a brilliant job this weekend! They have put in all the posts and built the frame for the stage. Work conditions were not great but they carried on regardless.


It looks really fabulous and it is now much easier to see how the garden is taking shape.

The Amphitheatre'sTaking Shape

If you look closely, you can see that the land has been shaped for our amphitheatre. There will be seating here that will look down onto the staged area.


Hopefully, there'll be less mud though!

It's A maze ing!

Nikki Morgan had her work cut out for her as she had to draw a plan of the maze so we could get an idea of the amount of matrials needed to put it all together. Here it is drawn out on the floor in the gym hall.....I wonder what it'll be like when it is actually in the garden?

Social Gardening

We all met again on the 14th for a spot of weeding a bit of a barbeque. We got the kids working by getting them to clean up some of the boulders
we want use on one of the garden areas.

Bring on the Digger

Thanks to Stuart Mackay and Carillion for once again providing us with a digger to clear the land for us. Peter, the driver, did an excellent job. He made it look so easy!

Round And Round The Gardens

It was a very exciting day today because I got the chance to go and visit some of the other Beechgrove Community Gardens in and around Edinburgh. My first stop was Silverburn in Midlothian. What a stunning garden, superb cake and a very warm welcome we were given. I really liked the way the garden was laid out and there were some tree benches which I think would work well in our school garden.


The next stop was the mining museum at Newton Grange. Despite being so close to the main road, this garden provided a peaceful haven where you could sit and relax and watch the world go by. I really liked the way that pieces of mining machinery were used to provide features throughout the garden.

The last stop was the 'secret' walled garden in Corstorphine. Very tranquil and off the beaten track it was a very impressive in size and looked amazing with a vast array of beautiful plants and trees.

Campfire's Burning

Thanks again to all the people who came along to get stuck into clearing the garden area on Sunday. We got the bonfire going and spent most of the day chopping things down and burning them up!




Tez and Kev get to the root of the matter!

The boys come in out of the rain to eat their sausages.












Time to put out the fire and go home for the night.