Shettleston Community Growing Project would like to thank the Robertson Trust for awarding us £9000. This money will allow us to pay for Sessional workers the project for the next year. A big thanks from everyone involved.

Huge thanks to HealthShine and People Health Trust for awarding us £24,261. This will allow us to continue to do the work we do, thanks again from everyone at Shettleston Community Growing Project.

A Huge thanks to HealthShine and Peoples Health Trust for awarding Shettleston Community Growing Project a massive £24,261 from Active Communities Funding for our ' Shettleston Grows bigger and better ' project. This will allow us to continue the work we do....thanks from everyone at the project.

This year's Family Fun Day, on Sunday 14th August, 12-4pm, promises to be bigger and better than ever!! 

We are working in partnership with Shettleston Housing Association to celebrate the Growing Project’s 5 years of community food growing and the Housing Association’s 40 years of service to the people of Shettleston.

All are welcome at this activity packed family event for all ages, which is FREE thanks to financial contributions from Shettleston Housing Association, Welding Engineers, I & D Cant Ltd, Lovell, Video Watchman Systems, Langmuir & Hay, Structural Partnership and Anderson Bell & Christie.

For those who would like to get involved there are a variety of volunteer roles available both prior to the event and on the day itself. So, if you are interested in working as part of the team which helps us lay on this fun community event then please get in touch to find out more.

Whether you can volunteer for a few hours or the whole day, your help will be greatly appreciated in making this a special event for the local community to enjoy and remember for years to come.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this year's Family Fun Day on Sunday 14th August "the best one yet" including staff from Shettleston Housing Association, Marion, Kenny, Jane, Sandy, Lindsey, Norrie, Gerry, Dorothy, Gillian, George, Ami, Anne, Jenny, Tracy, Ann, Julie, Suzanne, Mary, Wullie, Heather McC, Joyce, Angela, Ronnie, Heather, Karen, Evelyn, Anila, David, Tam, Mr Giggles, Anne Nelson and the team from Jump'n'Jive, Free Wheel North, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Carmen, Nicole and Laura from Brighter East End, YFG and Alex from Fuse Youth Cafe, the fabulous Barrow Band, Birkhill Arts, Shettleston Mens Shed, Boomerang Workshop, McMillan Entertainments, Addison Malloy, DH Signs Ltd, Baillies Marquees, Welding Engineers, Lovell, I & D Cant Ltd, Video Watchman Systems, Anderson Bell & Christie, Langmuir & Hay, Structural Partnership and many more ...

More photos to come, including via Facebook and Twitter.

You are invited to attend the first AGM of Shettleston Community Growing Project Ltd which takes place on the evening of Wednesday 24 February 2016 from 6:30pm in the Shettleston Housing Association offices, 65 Pettigrew Street, Glasgow G32 7XR.

This will be our first AGM since we became an incorporated organisation and Scottish charity and will be conducted in accordance with our Articles of Association.

Please confirm your attendance at the AGM as this will help with catering - contact Kenny McCubbin.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Our plots are ideal for gardening novices, children, older people and people with disabilities. We provide a welcoming and supportive environment where people can make friends and share information and resources.

We have a few remaining plots available for those who wish to grow their own food. No experience needed as help will be on hand.

Contact Marion if you're interested.

Watch the incredible moment when we received the news that our Big Lottery Fund application for £127,986 was successful ...

Funding has been secured to offer freelance work to suitably qualified and experienced Children/Youth Workers and Community Gardeners.

Children/Youth Workers - applicants should be both experienced youth workers and gardeners/food growers. Hourly rate of £12 or £15 dependent on experience and responsibility.

Community Gardeners - applicants should be experienced horticulturalists and food growers. Hourly rate of £15.

Please note: the workers will not be employed by the SCGP but will be engaged on a freelance [self-employed] basis to carry out specific services for agreed hours.

For further information please contact Kenny McCubbin or Jane McBride on 0141 763 0511 or 07530 985483, marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk

Following on from a highly successful summer programme, our Smelly Welly Club restarted its regular Tuesday and Thursday after-school club, which ran from August until the end of October, including during the October school holiday. New for the autumn season, we introduced a new Saturday Club, which welcomed parents as well as children and proved very popular with both. Regulars and new faces came along and with lots of new and fun activities on offer, there was never a dull moment.

Members enjoyed planting, harvesting and cooking the fruits of their efforts, making some nice Smelly Welly jam, fruit laden pancakes and home-made soup.

The Club had a couple of trips outside Shettleston, first to the Cuningar Loop - the Forestry Commission's new £5.7 million Commonwealth Legacy project near Rutherglen - and on the last club day of the year, members burned off some energy at Ryze Trampoline in the city centre.

The children were delighted to be presented with a cheque for £2,000 from the STV Appeal - this will add to their own fundraising efforts to help rebuild and replace their shed with something bigger and better.

Although the club has now wound down for the winter period, it will be back next year with even more good stuff to do. Members will be contacted in due course and any potential new recruits can call Kenny on 07811 981 200 or email kenny.mccubbin@shettleston.co.uk

Since opening in 2011, Shettleston Community Growing Project has become a well-established and thriving community food growing project.

People of all ages and abilities come together to learn about growing fruit, herbs and vegetables, including tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, leeks, courgettes, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and much, much more.

The project is managed by local people and we would like to encourage more local residents to get involved. We're currently (or should that be currantly!) accepting applications from prospective plotholders and Green Volunteers.

To get everybody off to a good start in the new growing season, we will be running a series of food growing and gardening workshops in February and March. Workshops will run over six weeks on Sundays and Tuesdays from 10 - 12, starting Sunday 14th February and Tuesday 16th February.

Contact Kenny McCubbin for further details on becoming a plot holder, taking part in the workshops or volunteering.

After a lot of hard work over the past couple of months, the new look SCGP site is almost ready.

The biggest change is the addition of two steel "cabins" to replace the wooden structures lost in last September's fire.

One of the cabins will be the new Smelly Welly Club HQ, the other will be used for training. Both will have electricity.

Other changes include re-siting some of the raised beds and taking down the brick wall that divided the site in two. The damaged polytunnel has also been re-covered and is already filling up with seedlings.

All in all, things are looking good for 2016's growing season.

It's just over five years since we opened our gates for the first time in the spring of 2011 and welcomed our first plotholders. We celebrated this milestone on a glorious sunny afternoon in the company of valued volunteers and supporters from near and far.

The afternoon also doubled up as a big THANK YOU to all who rallied round to help us, donating money, labour or just sympathy, after last September's devastating fire.

Despite winter continuing well into March there have been lots of tasks to tackle on the SCGP site at Eckford Street and Ardgay Street. The main project in recent weeks has been the construction of a path in the community garden to make it more accessible for wheelchair users and people with walking difficulties.

The project was more challenging and took longer than anticipated but a determined group of 41 Green Volunteers worked a total of 522 hours over 8 days, some returning day after day in spite of the wintery March weather.

First, they marked out the edge of the new path, and then lifted the turf and put it aside to be used elsewhere. Next, wood for edging the path was cut and put in place, weed suppressing membrane was laid then dozens of barrow loads of type one and gravel were brought in and ‘whacked’ into position. Finally, we stood back, admired our work and had a barbecue to celebrate. You can see our path taking shape in our photo gallery.

Funding for materials came from Glasgow City Council’s North East Open Spaces & Environment Programme and the project was led by our very capable sessional gardening support workers Sandy Paterson and Lindsey Duncan, and Jo Ridley from TCV.

Here are some of the comments from our Green Volunteers ...

"Enjoyed working as a team. Don't know much about gardening, enjoyed the landscaping. Sunday was amazing, snowing, it was brilliant. We kept working."

"I used to do landscaping in the past. Good to get back into it again. Excellent to see it finished. Good idea to work in smaller teams and rotate the teams."

"Good how everyone chipped in. The path will be good for people with wheelchairs. It’s good to help out. Good to see the women working harder than the guys."

"Met different people. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Now it’s done – what next? Patting myself on the back. Enjoyed working with machines (more confident about laying paths)"

Project coordinator, Kenny McCubbin, has organised a taster session on Sunday 3rd April (12:30 - 2:30) for anybody who might be interested in getting involved to see what goes on at the Growing Project. There is a wide range of jobs to do and it's very satisfying to stand back at the end of the day and see the garden looking nice.

Following the hard work, everyone can enjoy a nice hot mug of tasty soup (made by volunteers, of course) and crusty bread.

Throughout the summer holidays, children and young people attended our Smelly Welly Club which was funded by Sport Relief. See the kids in their yellow t-shirts in this Stalled Spaces youtube clip.

The overwhelming popularity of the summer programme led to the service continuing throughout the autumn as an after-school and Sunday gardening club.

The project finished during the October holiday week with a visit to People’s Palace and Glasgow Green.

We've added photos of the club's day out to Campsie Glen and some stills from the filming of the clip on YouTube (see our Photo Gallery) and would like to thank one of the parents for allowing us to reprint her letter of thanks (see Our Stories).

The Smelly Welly Club opened its doors again for the new season, welcoming back familiar faces from last year and new faces for this year. Already the members have been hard at work with Louise from Froglife creating a new bog area for the pond and planting lots of wild flowers in the wildlife garden. We were also fortunate to have been chosen to launch Action Earth with Volunteering Matters, a day that was enjoyed by everyone.

The raised beds have been planted up with lots of vegetables and fruit to be enjoyed by the members in the next few months. Hanging baskets have been planted up and already the difference is remarkable. With the help of our two new youth workers, Stacey and Suzanne, the club will go from strength to strength.

Members are also looking forward to their first of many trips this year - Aviemore Youth Hostel for a weekend of canoeing, mountain biking, sailing and walking...I am so jealous.Unfortunately spaces are now filled for this trip, but there will be others throughout the year for members.

If all this sounds like something you would be interested and who wouldn't be interested in being outdoors and healthy eating then contact us....

The club is open for 8 - 12 year olds on Tuesdays and Thursdays (3.30 pm - 5.30 pm). Contact Kenny on 07879 333846 or email me at kenny.mccubbin@shettleston.co.uk during office hours.

If your children are between 8 and 12 years old and are looking for something to do during the Easter holidays, then you might like to know that our Smelly Welly Club will be running a holiday programme on the following dates: 5th, 6th and 7th April and 12th, 13th and 14th April from 2pm - 4pm. Get them along to the Growing Project on 5th April to register.

The Smelly Welly Club after school restarts on Tuesday 19th April and will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30pm till 5:30pm. Again, it's for anyone between 8 and 12 years of age. Registration will take place on Tuesday 19th April and spaces will fill up quickly.

For more information, contact Kenny McCubbin on 0141 763 2599 or email Kenny.McCubbin@shettleston.co.uk

Glasgow City Council's Stalled Spaces initiative was awarded the top prize for Community Involvement at this year's Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning.

One judge commented "It is encouraging to see such a strong partnership approach between the Council, its partner organisations and the many communities around the city, where the people are empowered to make positive changes in their environment."

Well done to Seamus and his colleagues from all at Shettleston Community Growing Project! Watch our video clip on youtube or read more about the Award at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/09/3576/7

It has been a busy couple of months at the allotments with plotholders preparing and sowing their beds with vegetables and fruit that will be ready to eat in a few months. It was particularly dry there for a few weeks, but now we have had a few welcome showers of rain everything will start growing at an alarming rate and the never ending army of weeds will of course not be long behind them.

Please remember to keep your vegetables and fruit netted if possible because as much as we all like eating what we grow, wood pigeons, slugs and squirrels like eating what you have grown even more and there is nothing more upsetting than to leave your plot fully planted at night and come back down in the morning and its all away.

And remember, plants need watered in the days after planting as well, don't rely on the rain to do it for you.

This year we have two new gardeners on site to offer advice and guidance on everything you need to know.

Veronica is onsite Tuesdays 10.00am - 4.00 pm and Sundays 1.00 pm - 4.00pm

Christine is onsite Tuesdays 4.30pm - 7.30 pm and Thursdays 10.00am - 4.00pm.
.

Hello everyone,

Well it’s full steam ahead now. The growing season is well on the way so let battle commence.

Just to remind you that Kenny and Marion are now job-sharing. Marion will be working Tuesday and Wednesday all day and Thursday afternoons whilst Kenny will be covering the other half of the week. He will be around on other days working on Children and Families duties. Marion can be contacted on 07530 985 483 or 0141 763 2894 and Kenny can be contacted on 07879 333 846 or 0141 763 2599.

Some points of information for you are:

Greenhouse spaces – Your allocated spaces have now been posted in the Kitchen noticeboard and on the notice boards onsite. Please note that only one space per plot holder has been allocated.

Sunday sessions – Kenny will be onsite on Sunday 9th April from 10.00 – 4.00pm if anyone needs any advice, help or general information on growing. This is the last week of training/information sessions, so this would be a good time to get any help you might need.

Gardening support workers – We have two new gardening support workers, Veronica and Christine. They will be onsite on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays to offer advice and support if you need any, so please make them welcome. Veronica is onsite 9.45am – 4.15 pm on Tuesdays and Sundays 1pm – 4pm. Christine is onsite Tuesdays 4.30pm – 7.30 pm and Thursdays 9.45 am – 4.15 pm. (Please note, Christine is not onsite Tuesday 11th April).

National Gardening Week – The Project will be opening its doors to visitors on Wednesday 12th April between 2.00pm and 4.00 pm, when visitors will be able to see the community garden, raised beds, herb garden, soft fruit beds and wildlife garden. After the tour of the site, everyone can enjoy tea, coffee and cake served from the new community kitchen. So please tell your neighbours, friends and come along and support National Gardening Week.

Volunteers – Please remember that if you are onsite and doing any volunteering work to keep a record of this and let either myself or Kenny know so we can add it to our volunteering hrs for allotments.

Souper Sunday – Regulars will know that each month we have a Souper Sunday day, where soup and crusty rolls/bread are available for volunteers who pop along and help us with the never ending tasks that need done onsite. This is your chance to meet new plot holders, share tips and help us with some volunteering. The First Souper Sunday starts on Sunday 30th April 1.00pm – 3.00 pm.

An exciting and wide-ranging Wildlife Garden Festival is taking place in Glasgow from 9 to 30 September and our fantastic Smelly Welly Club is hosting an event as part of the Festival on Thursday 18 September from 2-4pm.

Kids will get the chance to learn a whole host of gardening tips, as well as having a bit of fun too with a range of great outdoor activities.

The festival is part of Giving Nature a Home in Glasgow, an RSPB Scotland initiative in partnership with Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council, which aims to reconnect people with Glasgow's urban green spaces.

Many people are not aware of the opportunities for getting close to nature in the city. And as in cities and towns throughout Britain, children spend much of their time indoors, rather than out at play and exploring nature.  

We hope you can join us in connecting children, families and community groups to create a city-wide wildlife garden, and celebrate nature within Glasgow.

Not long now till our Family Fun Day 2014. 

We're working with Shettleston Housing Association to ensure this year's event is an extra special one and we all look forward to seeing you there!

This year's Family Fun Day is supported by Glasgow City Council's Shettleston Area Partnership.

A reminder that our summer programme for children aged 8-12 years runs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2pm to 4pm, starting on Tuesday 28 June.

Children take part in food growing and gardening activities, arts and crafts, outings, games and more. We provide free refreshments.

For more information, or to enrol, please call Kenny McCubbin, Children and Families Worker on 0141 763 0511 or on 07811 981 200.

We're saddened to report this awful news.

Our Smelly Welly kids club shed, potting shed and polytunnel were ravaged by fire at the start of the September weekend. 

Thankfully, no-one was hurt and the work of the garden will continue despite this major setback, though it will take time to get things back to rights. Worst affected is the Smelly Welly Club - unfortunately all activities for children and families are on hold for now.

We want to say a huge thanks for all the lovely messages of support from local residents and via facebook and Twitter

We've had lots of people asking how they may donate to help us rebuild.

We would be grateful for whatever you can spare, however large or small.

We use the wonderful localgiving.com for online donations and Localgiving's Grow Your Tenner campaign starts on 13 October which means we could get as much as £21.67 for every £10 donated with Gift Aid from that date.

Funds can also be handed in at Shettleston Housing Association's reception (65 Pettigrew Street, Glasgow G32 7XR) during office hours.

Whenever you buy anything online - from your weekly shop to your annual holiday - you could be raising a free donation for us. There are nearly 3,000 retailers including Amazon, John Lewis, Aviva, thetrainline and Sainsbury's, who will donate a percentage of the amount you spend to our project to say thank you for shopping with them.

It's really simple, and doesn't cost you anything.

All you have to do is:

1. Go to http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/shettlestongrowing

2. Sign up for free 

3. Get shopping - your donations will be collected by easyfundraising and automatically sent to us. It couldn't be easier!

There are no catches or hidden charges and we will be really grateful for your donations.

Thank you for whatever way you choose to support us. It really does mean a lot.

Children and young people from our Smelly Welly club, some as young as four, have been getting to know their local Commonwealth Wood at Auchenshuggle.

On their first visit in August, they were split into teams of Badgers, Foxes and Hedgehogs and had a lot of fun building a wigwam and a shelter and learning all about trees and wildlife (see Photo Gallery and read more about the visit here).

They returned in September for woodland games, storytelling and a hearty lunch cooked over an open fire.

Next up ... a Halloween themed visit is being planned for Sunday 27th October.

Our thanks to Hugh McNish at Forestry Commission Scotland for first drawing our attention to this place of beauty on our doorstep.

Despite the wet and windy weather, this year's Family Fun Day welcomed over 200 visitors, and was a huge success! We've created a new photo gallery so you can see how much everyone enjoyed the day.

The animals, free ice cream for kids, Mr Giggles, and all the other acts and activities were enjoyed by all.

Well done to everyone who helped organise and support this event!

Were you there? What did you enjoy most? Please tweet us (@shettlestongrow) or email marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk

We regularly inspect plots and greenhouse spaces and offer advice and assistance to help plotholders and green volunteers get bigger and better crops. 

We've noted a few common problems and thought we'd share some helpful hints:

1. Black spots on potatoes - see Which? factsheet on potato blight for expert advice
2. Brassicas damaged by birds / caterpillars - the best solution is to net crops to prevent this (please help yourselves to blue netting)
3. Tomatoes need pruning to increase airflow and direct nutrients into fruit rather than foliage
4. Possible magnesium deficiency causing yellowing / marbled appearance in leaves can be treated using epsom salts (hoe in around base or spray leaves)

And given the current (mostly) dry spell, we've found these useful tips on how to water plants more effectively:

1. To help funnel water directly to the roots of your crops, sink a flower pot or an upside down plastic bottle with the bottom cut off into the soil next to plants and water into it
2. Either water in the morning or the evening, allowing plants to soak up moisture before the hottest part of the day
3. Target the part of the plant that needs water - this means watering the area of the soil above the roots, avoiding ‘spraying’ the leaves as this wastes water and scorches the plants
4. Watering plants less frequently, but more thoroughly helps them to develop deep root systems that are better equipped to seek out moisture in the soil

SCGP has won the Best Community Initiative category and was judged Overall Award winners in this year's Evening Times Streets Ahead awards, held at the People's Palace on Thursday 13 June. Read more about the awards here.

We're ecstatic as this is only our third growing season. The stars of the show were Ben and Josephine from our Smelly Welly Club ...

In recognition of the commitment and hard work of all those involved, the group was previously awarded the Grow Green with Glasgow Award in 2011 and in 2012 we were awarded the ReGen Star Award. And just last month, Libby McArthur (River City actress) praised our project for its achievements in an article for the Daily Record magazine.

In November 2012, as part of Glasgow City Council’s Stalled Spaces Initiative, the project was nominated and short-listed for a Eurocities Award and, at the beginning of June, we were thrilled to hear that the Council's Stalled Spaces Initiative had won the City to City Barcelona FAD Award 2013.

We are looking forward to seeing lots of you again soon - here are some dates for your diary.

Our Plotholders Meeting and Big Shettleston Sleepover Information Session is on Thursday 5 February from 6:30pm at Shettleston Housing Association, 65 Pettigrew Street - we'll provide a warming bowl of soup and the opportunity to sign up for a plot in 2015 plus you'll hear about our recent achievements (including a visit from the Minister for Community Empowerment, Marco Biagi MSP in December) and exciting plans for the year ahead.

Free training workshops will be running weekly on Sundays (starting on 8 February) and Tuesdays (starting on 10 February) from 10am to 12noon at our site on Eckford Street. Come along and learn how to grow your own fruit, flowers and vegetables. Sessional staff will remain on site until 4pm on Sundays and Tuesdays to help plotholders with their own plots and organise general maintenance and preparation of communal areas for the growing season.

The Big Shettleston Sleepover is an organised event taking place in our community garden overnight on Friday 20 March (starts at 8pm) - it will be a fun way to increase awareness of fuel poverty in our community and join together to raise funds to help people keep warm in winter. For those who don't want to sleep out overnight, we've lots of other opportunities for you to get involved and support the event - come along to the information session on 5 February (see above). Look out for the official launch of the Big Shettleston Sleepover next to the Shettleston giraffe (mural) on the morning of Friday 6 February ...

SCGP's Food Miles pack contains lesson plans, resources and interactive games which are fun and easy to use for young people as well as their teachers and parents.

Eastmuir School used the pack recently during their Eco Week and wrote to say "The impact on the children’s learning was evident in the way they could talk about Food Miles and where our food comes from and they presented their learning at a whole school assembly. Children became very enthusiastic about where their food comes from. They were able to talk about the impact that food miles have on our environment and became passionate about the importance of buying locally produced food."

Copies are available from Glasgow City Council Stalled Spaces.

We have funding from Radio Clyde Cash for Kids to run a programme of gardening themed activities for children during 2013 and 2014.

The Smelly Welly Club is aimed at children aged 8 - 12, though younger children are welcome if accompanied by a parent, guardian or child minder. Members get involved in growing food, healthy eating and caring for their environment through activities like practical gardening, recycling, arts and crafts, games and drama.

Starting back after the winter break in March 2014, Smelly Welly Club sessions (three hours) will take place on Sundays (early afternoon) and on Thursdays (after-school) during school term time. During the school holidays, there will be two weekday sessions, in addition to the weekend session.

We are seeking to recruit suitably qualified and experienced youth workers to help organise and deliver Smelly Welly Club activities. Applicants should also have experience of fruit and vegetable gardening and/or environmental education. A basic food hygiene certificate would be an advantage.

Workers will be required to be registered under the PVG (Protection of Vulnerable Groups) scheme. They will be paid on a sessional basis (£10/hour) and as such will be self-employed, invoice the SCGP for their services and deal with their own tax affairs.

For further information and/or an application form, please email SCGP Co-ordinator, Kenny McCubbin marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk or call 0141 763 0511. Alternatively, you can download an application form from the 'Job Vacancies' section of Shettleston Housing Association's website.

The closing date is 31 January 2014.

Despite the awful weather, 2012 was a great year for the Shettleston Community Growing Project.

Our biggest achievement has been successfully reclaiming a derelict piece of land and transforming it into a vibrant community garden with vegetable and fruit growing plots and a wildflower / wildlife garden. More than sixty members worked on their own plots and over 1,100 hours of volunteer effort went into developing and maintaining communal areas between April and December. We ran a very successful Smelly Welly Club throughout the summer holidays and on until October, with funding from Sport Relief. And we opened our gates to more than 200 people from the wider community at the joint Family Fun Day we held with Shettleston Housing Association in August. In recognition of our hard work throughout the year, we were presented with an award for "Action in the Community" at the Re-Gen's "Stars in the Community" Awards ceremony in November.

Looking ahead, we anticipate an even busier and successful year in 2013. Thanks to a grant of £116,000 from the Scottish Government's People and Communities Fund, our new "Green Volunteer" scheme will give more local people the chance to get involved in healthy, outdoor activities, to learn new skills and to help transform other derelict areas into productive and attractive spaces. Our cycling club with Freewheel North meets on site every Tuesday ready to depart at 10am and is open to anyone in the area. We are able to call on our new bank of experienced tutors to train and support plot holders and green volunteers, thanks to funding from Awards for All.

Please come along to our AGM on Wednesday 6 February at 6:30 in Shettleston Housing Association to find out more and get involved. Or get in touch with Kenny McCubbin, Project Co-ordinator, on 07530 985 483.

If you would like the opportunity to grow your own vegetables, we have a few plots available this year. Thanks to a grant from the Big Lottery Fund's Awards for All programme, we now have sessional gardening support workers to advise and assist new (and old!) plotholders at the allotment site, so there's never been a better time to get growing.

We're holding a taster session on site on Sunday 7 April 2013 (2 to 4pm, including free soup and refreshments) to give you an opportunity to find out more about becoming a plotholder and/or one of our Green Volunteers.

Green Volunteers take part in a range of activities, including general maintenance and upgrading the allotment and community garden, practical activities throughout the local area e.g. removing weeds and planting trees, shrubs and flowers and special projects e.g. creating a new path in the community garden - see photo gallery and news item.

Our group welcomes new volunteers and is keen to hear from members of the public of any small spaces that are neglected and need transforming.

For more information, please contact our Volunteer Co-ordinator, Kenny McCubbin, on 0141 763 0511 / 07530 985 483 / email: marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk

We look forward to meeting you soon!

The Big Shettleston Sleepover is an organised event taking place in our community garden overnight on Friday 20 March 2015 (from 6:30pm).

We hope it will be a fun way to increase awareness of fuel poverty in our community and join together to raise funds to help people keep warm in winter.

We're delighted to be working in partnership with Shettleston Energy Advice on this campaign. For those who don't want to sleep out overnight, we've lots of other opportunities for you to get involved and support the event.

Register your interest by email (marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk) or phone (0141 763 0511).

Donations can be made online or via reception at Shettleston Housing Association, 65 Pettigrew Street.

We welcomed over 300 people to our Family Fun Day on Sunday 9th August - our Chairman, Norrie, thinks it was the best one yet!

See if you agree - here are the best of the photos we took; we'd love to see any you took on the day:

* email them to marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk

* tweet them to @shettlestongrow

* share them with us on Facebook

Massive thanks to all who helped make the day such a success including Shettleston Housing Association, Upkeep Glasgow, Langmuir & Hay Construction Consultants, Anderson Bell + Christie, Fairhurst, Ramage Young and The Structural Partnership.

This year's Family Fun Day will take place on the afternoon of Sunday 9th August at the Shettleston Community Growing Project site (entrance via 26 Ardgay Street).

The event, which is run jointly with Shettleston Housing Association, is now in its fourth year - last year, it rained for almost the whole day, yet despite this, over 200 people came along and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. We can't promise the sun but we do guarantee that the Family Fun Day is a date not to be missed!

The event is bigger and promises to be even better than before with a special appearance by Carmen Pieraccini (Kelly Marie from River City), FREE ice cream for the weans and free bike checks for all you enthusiastic cyclists.

There is much to do with the preparation leading up to the event and on the day. The event would not happen without the help of our volunteers who turn up every year. Thanks to all our regular helpers. The numbers increase year by year and it would be great if we could encourage a few more people to help out. Please let us know if you can help with any of the following:

Before the event

Home baking (always really popular) or shop bought cakes and biscuits to go with the tea/coffee

Ingredients for our bakers – flour, sugar, butter, icing sugar, cake decorations, etc…..

Jam jars needed for jam, chutney and pickles

Jam makers – we have plenty fruit and could do with some more jam makers

Raffle prizes – any unwanted gifts/presents

Bottles for the tombola stall – anything from wine, spirits etc. to wee bottles of juice, shampoo, water….please note that it takes some time to prepare for the tombola, sticking the raffle tickets on all the items so early donations would be appreciated to enable us to get prepared in good time. Also some help for Jane who normally has this job to do.

On the day

9.30 – 12.00   Help with setting up, putting up tents/tables/chairs/stalls etc…

12.00 – 4.00   Help manning stalls, serving teas and coffees, selling raffle tickets, general gofors (is that how you spell it?)…..

4.00 – 5.00   Clearing up after the event

Donations can be left at SHA reception (65 Pettigrew Street) during office hours.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday 9th August - please keep your fingers crossed for sunshine this year!

We're delighted to confirm the success of our recent application to the Comic Relief Local Communities programme, which is administered by Foundation Scotland.

We've been awarded £7,412 for a new programme of 'on the job' training and support which will take place on Tuesdays and Sundays from 1 April 2014 so that both working and unemployed people can participate.

The additional funding should help us to achieve greater outcomes in terms of building confidence, improving health and increasing skills and experience.

We were amazed when we found out that the lovely staff at Trailfinders on Sauchiehall Street had stuffed themselves with cake all day, especially as they raised £87 for our Big Shettleston Sleepover at the same time - thank you!

If you've got a sweet tooth and want to support us, we'll happily accept donations online via localgiving until the end of April.  

On the last day of September,

Why not come and have some fun?

We can promise you soup and a wee buttered roll

But can’t promise you the sun.

It’s a wee informal gathering,

Of those who hold a plot.

For those who worked a little

And for those who worked a lot.

To tell each other stories,

Of their triumphs and failures too,

A chance to throw the novices,

A helpful hint or two.

Please come along on Sunday,

It starts at 1pm.

I’m sure there will be no shows,

Please don’t be one of them.

Norrie and his wife Susan flew to London recently to attend the prestigious Royal Mail Chairman's Awards. Norrie was nominated in the Community Champion category as a result of his involvement with the Shettleston Community Growing Project.

And our Treasurer, Julie, was also in the spotlight recently - she's one of seven Best You Can Be Ambassadors for the Institute of Fundraising through her work at Parkhead Citizens Advice Bureau.

Another plotholder, Ian, graduates this summer with a BSc (Hons) in Immunology and Microbiology.

Well done to all of you!

Scottish Government statistics show each household in Scotland discards £430 worth of food annually.

Organisers of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign say that two-thirds of the food and drink thrown away could be used. They are calling on Scots to plan their weekly meals in advance, freeze leftovers and recycle waste food to reduce the amount ending up in environmentally harmful landfills.

Top five tips for preventing waste:

• Plan meals: write a list, take it to the shops and stick to it. Plan weekly or two weekly what you need writing out menus for each day
• Check dates: make sure you organise menus to use food when it is still fresh
• Store food correctly: food stays fresher for longer if kept correctly. Apples go in the fridge, potatoes in a cool dark place, and bread can go in a fridge or freezer to make it keep from spoiling
• Measure portions: don’t make too much food. Get into the habit of erring on the side of caution and smaller meals
• Be resourceful: last night’s leftovers could be today’s feast

Find out more on Love Food Hate Waste Scotland.

Shettleston Community Growing Project and Shettleston Housing Association organised a very successful litter pick on Souper Sunday (30 November 2014).

We assembled at the allotment at 68 Eckford Street, G32 7AR to get ready then went out in teams to pick up litter and debris from the surrounding streets, green areas and paths.

The litter pickers were then treated to a hearty lunch of home made soup, rolls and puddings.

Many thanks to Clean Glasgow for providing bin bags, litter pickers, high visibility vests, gloves, brooms etc and for removing most of the rubbish we collected.

We're trying to reunite the three shopping trolleys with their owners.

We're delighted to report that we've been adopted by the Marks & Spencer outlet at the Forge as their good cause for 2014/15.

Staff at the store will be taking part in a host of fundraising activities until the end of of March 2015 and M&S will also "lend" their staff to the project by providing one day's paid time off for staff volunteering.

David Purdon, Charity Advisor at the M&S outlet, said "We are looking forward to working in partnership with Shettleston Community Growing Project and we hope our contribution will make a difference."

We're really grateful for both the financial and practical support.

We're pleased to announce that our popular Smelly Welly Club has re-started. During term-time, it runs on Tuesdays (3:30-5:30) and Sundays (12:30-2:30).

Smelly Welly Club members are encouraged to get involved in growing food, healthy eating and caring for their environment through activities like practical gardening, cooking, recycling, arts and crafts, games and drama.

All staff are PVG checked. We provide healthy snacks and refreshments at each session.

For more information, please contact Marion (tel: 0141 763 0511 / email: marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk).

Fundraising is now underway to help re-build our site after the recent fire.

We've had many generous donations from individuals and businesses and a number of funders are also helping us with re-building costs. Even the kids have got involved with the whole of St. Paul’s Primary school taking part in a fundraising run around the school grounds, raising a massive £1,677!

Having got over the shock and disappointment the SCGP Board is now considering how to make the best of the situation by improving our facilities rather than just replacing what was lost.

We are open to suggestions from our members as to what YOU think we should have on the project site. Please let us know what you think by emailing suggestions to marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk

We'll circulate some fully costed proposals to our members shortly, to be followed by a full discussion of the options at our last Souper Sunday of 2015 on Sunday 6th December (time still to be confirmed).

In the meantime, one of our plotholders, Andy, has written an article to share his perspective on recent events. We hope you enjoy it.

Free summer activities for children aged 8-12 every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 2-4pm.

Take part in gardening, arts and crafts, outdoor cooking (and eating!), games, orienteering, geo-caching, trips and other adventures.

If you would like your kids to join in the fun, meet new friends, learn new skills and enjoy healthy fresh air, why not sign them up?

Contact Kenny McCubbin on 0141 763 0511, 07811 981 200 or email kenny.mccubbin@shettleston.co.uk

Generously funded by First State Investments Trust through Foundation Scotland.

At our AGM on 26 February, Marion announced that SCGP has just become the recipient of a Volunteer Friendly Award which is a quality standard to support, recognise and reward groups who are good at involving volunteers.

Not only have we achieved the standard we are going to be highlighted as an example of good practice. Well done everyone!

Special thanks to all our hard working volunteers and especially to our two new Gold Star Volunteers (Steven and Josephine) who were presented with their certificates by two of our local Councillors.

The CSV Action Earth campaign was launched at the Shettleston Community Growing Project.

Thanks to support from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), green grants of up to £500 are available to help people to protect and restore natural habitats, especially in deprived areas.

CSV plan to allocate £37,500 of SNH funding to projects aimed at promoting biodiversity.

STV weather presenter, Sean Batty, is supporting the campaign.

He said: "Everyone has something to gain by helping maintain biodiversity. This could mean clearing up a river, restoring parkland, planting wildflowers, digging ponds or building bird and bat boxes."

Alison Matheson, of Scottish Natural Heritage, said: "We hope that people will use these small grants to take action and make a real difference to the quality of their neighbourhood."

The campaign will provide volunteers and groups with grants of up to £250 to help kick start community environmental projects. Local nature reserves can also apply for enhanced grants of £500.

The Fruitful Schools campaign is urging MSPs to help sweep away some of the bureaucratic blockages that stand in the way of getting fruit trees planted in schools, hospital grounds, streets, parks and around public buildings such as the new buildings being constructed for the Commonwealth games in 2014.

"Providing land for food growing helps people to help themselves. People don't want to sit home and watch daytime TV - they want something useful to do. This is true for people young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural.

Being able to go and get your hands dirty and grow things is so important to people. And it's vital that children learn these skills so they know how to feed themselves in what is an uncertain future. It's not a great thought that our children and their children may struggle to feed themselves.

Growing your own fruit and food builds confidence and health and without these the country can't recover. The wartime Dig for Victory campaign has lessons for today."

Read more on the Guardian's Scotland Blog

Our Big Lunch event on Sunday 2 June was a fantastic afternoon. Over 80 plotholders, volunteers and their guests came to our Tea Party with Treats, held to CELEBRATE the fantastic contribution that our loyal band of volunteers make and to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who helps out at the Community Garden and Allotment Site.

Have a look at our new photo gallery to see lots more photos ...

The fantastic Smelly Welly Club is back, thanks to funding from Radio Clyde Cash for Kids. Sessions take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 12noon to 2pm with lunch provided. Members of the club (aged 8-12), sessional workers and others gave a warm welcome to Margaret Curran MP on her recent visit.

We're also delighted to be working with Shettleston Housing Association again this year to organise another Family Fun Day (Sunday 11 August from 12noon to 4pm, enter via Community Garden, 26 Ardgay Street). All welcome!

Our Green Volunteers have been working hard in this glorious weather - we've refreshed the planters at Shettleston Train Station and have started building a rockery in our Community Garden (though we all downed tools to listen to the Wimbledon Final on Sunday - a great result!).

One of our committee members (and a Gold Star Volunteer) is planning to swim 2km to raise funds for the group. If you would like to help us raise funds, please get in touch with us (tweet @shettlestongrow or contact Kenny McCubbin on 07530 985 483).

Finally, the site is looking amazing thanks to the talents and efforts of sessional staff, volunteers and plot holders - compare it now to what it used to look like in our first year - a real transformation!

Our annual Family Fun Day, organised in conjunction with Shettleston Housing Association, was a huge success. The rain (mostly) stayed away and the community garden and raised beds allotment site looked in tip top condition.

We welcomed as many as 300 people through the gates between 12noon and 4pm, including plotholders and members, their friends and families, staff and volunteers from Shettleston Housing Association, local residents of all ages, Mr Giggles (aka Gordon), Hugh from Forestry Commission Scotland, Sadie from The Walking Theatre Company and professional chef Alison, Evelyn from Shettleston Energy Advice, Yvonne (musician), the guys from Freewheel North, Baillie Anne Simpson, John Mason MSP, our very own Smelly Wellies and Green Volunteers and assorted small animals.

We've just added photos of the day to our Photo Gallery. And we've been sent a link to even more photos taken on the day (thanks Jan). Please do tweet us (@shettlestongrow) or visit our Facebook page to tell us what you liked about the day and let us know how we can improve it further next year.

We're honoured and amazed to reveal that we've been voted as the winner of the STV Real Heroes Environmental Project of the Year 2013.

This is a tremendous accolade for all our plotholders, Green Volunteers, committee members, sessional staff and not forgetting the hugely successful Smelly Welly Club and all the organisations and individuals who have given us so much support, encouragement and funding along the way.

As our Chair, Anne, said on the show, the east end of Glasgow often gets a hard time, but our project, through its volunteers and our partnership with Shettleston Housing Association, has shown that the east end can bloom!

We got together to watch the programme in the Board room at Shettleston Housing Association in the company of John Mason MSP, Bailie Anne Simpson and Councillor Frank McAveety. Frank also tweeted "Fantastic to see the Shettleston Community Growing Project and the Smelly Welly Club winning Environmental Project of the Year".

We've had many other texts, emails and tweets congratulating us - here is a selection:

"Congratulations to @shettlestongrow sorry I couldn't be with you tonight", Margaret Curran MP

"Congratulations to @shettlestongrow on winning", De'ils on Wheels, Dumbarton Road Corridor Environmental Trust

"A huge congratulations on winning!! This is very well deserved and is great recognition for your excellent project" Hugh McNish, Forestry Commission Scotland

"Well done and congratulations a well deserved win :-)", Councillor Yvonne Kucuk

"Was great meeting some of the group last night. Was so nice to hear how much the kids love growing their own fruit & veg!", Sean Batty

"great green fingered heroes many congrats, so deserved", Eusebi Deli, Shettleston - Scotland's Best Takeaway in this year's Italian Awards

"Well done @shettlestongrow for winning best environmental project in Finding Scotland's Real Heroes Awards", Glasgow City Council

"Congrats @shettlestongrow (plus the Smelly Welly Club) Environmental Project of the Year at Fridays' #ScotlandsRealHeroes awards", Scottish Childminding Association

"... well done to all the SCGP volunteers on their fantastic achievements!", Shettleston Housing Association

"I was over the moon to see that you guys won your category. I am enormously proud of you all", Anita Manning

The awards ceremony was broadcast on STV at 8pm on 15th November - our category starts 11 minutes into the programme.

You can see more photos taken on the night the show was filmed in our Photo Gallery.

And you can still watch the original broadcast from 4th October.

February and March are busy times for sowing seeds and preparing gardens and allotments for the months ahead.

As part of our People and Communities funded ‘Green Volunteer’ project, Shettleston Community Growing Project is pleased to announce an important new FREE horticultural training and volunteering programme, running weekly on Tuesdays (4 Feb to 25 March, 10am to 4pm) and again on Sundays (9 Feb to 30 March, 10am to 4pm).

Training sessions are open to anyone who is interested in volunteering and learning basic gardening and food growing skills. Participants may be unemployed or working and looking for something to do in their free time. New plotholders and those on waiting lists at allotments are welcome to apply.

Training sessions will provide participants with the knowledge, skills and confidence to become an active volunteer at SCGP and other gardening/food growing projects. Certificates of attendance will be provided at the end of the sessions which may be beneficial for those seeking employment.

All tools, resources and refreshments will be provided. Participants should wear suitable clothing and footwear and bring a packed lunch.

For more details, email marion.bate@shettleston.co.uk or phone 0141 763 0511

We're delighted to be helping The Evening Times to launch the third year of the fantastic Streets Ahead campaign.

And we'd like to say a HUGE thank you to Tony and Ann at The Evening Times and Sir Willie Haughey of the City Charitable Trust, for the very generous donation which means the Smelly Welly Club will finally get their purpose built shed and some great quality tools.

Certificates of achievement were presented at The Big Lunch in Shettleston on 1 June 2014 to Thomas Johnston (pictured with Anne and Norrie from the committee), Paul Scott, Charles Munro and Steven Lawrie.

Michelle Graham, George Hagan, Jim Copeland, Jamie Jamieson and Sarah Jane Devlin will also receive certificates.

Congratulations to all nine hard-working Green Volunteers for completing the 8-week horticultural training and volunteering programme earlier this year (funded by the Scottish Government's People and Communities Fund).

We're now well into our second growing season and are enjoying the now completed extension to the Eckford Street site. As well as additional raised growing beds, we now have an eight metre long polytunnel and bespoke potting shed. A section of the extended site has been set aside as a wildlife garden, with bird boxes, wild flowers and specially constructed hedgehog homes.

Our Family Fun Day on Sunday 12 August, held in partnership with Shettleston Housing Association, was a great success - have a look at the photos in our Photo Gallery and see round the site if you weren't able to join us on the day. We are extremely grateful to all who helped out on the day ... you know who you are!

We're always keen to welcome new members as plotholders and as volunteers at our regular gardening club. If you would like to get involved, please contact Kenny McCubbin, Project Co-ordinator (tel: 07530 985 483).

Hope to see you soon!

2014 will be a momentous year for Glasgow's East End. To help get the year off to a flying start, we have planted thousands of spring bulbs on prominent grassy sites throughout Shettleston so that come spring we are all cheered by colourful carpets of daffodil, tulip and crocus.

The Shettleston Area Partnership granted us funding to get the project started and we have planted up a number of sites along Shettleston Road, at Shettleston train station and in the surrounding streets.

Huge thanks to all the Green Volunteers, Smelly Wellies, Shettleston Girl Guides, sessional staff and others who've helped with this including Archie, Julie, Frank, George, Andrew, Margaret G, Dorothy, Margaret L, Ben, Josephine, Jacob, Robbie, Kate, Ami, Jenny, Lindsey and Sandy.

A great big thank you to the hardy souls who spent the night camping out with us in the Community Garden on Friday 20 March 2015 and to everyone who helped with the planning, organising and fundraising.

There is no doubt that we achieved our aims which were to raise awareness of fuel poverty and to raise money for people in the Shettleston area affected by it.

STV Glasgow filmed the Smelly Welly Club and Marion on site in the run up to the event and you can watch the news clip here.

In all, 22 adults and 13 children took part in the sleepover - here are the best of the photos from the event.

A variety of tents pitched in the growing project’s community garden and allotment site served as ‘bedrooms’ and a marquee became the ‘sitting room’ where participants socialised before bedtime. Thanks to generous local volunteers and Shettleston Housing Association staff there was a plentiful supply of hot soup, curry, biryani and cakes to keep people reasonably warm on what turned out to be a very cold March evening. Thankfully, we woke up to a glorious Spring morning and after clearing the site we all headed home………………for a well earned rest!

The quote below from one of our volunteers says it all……

“The event was a massive success. Working with other members of the community made me feel great. We had a wonderful time working together to set up the tents, bring food, help prepare meals, socialising with full bellies round the camp fire and creating a great community spirit felt by children and adults of all age groups. We raised money which will go directly back into the community to help the most needy with their energy bills.”
Andy M

We're delighted to let you know that we've raised just over £900 through Localgiving.com's Grow Your Tenner campaign!

We'll use these vital extra funds to provide more training and support for budding gardeners of all ages next growing season.

Thank you from each and every one of us!

We have recently signed up with Localgiving.com to promote our work and seek online donations.

During May Match, five donations were made (and matched) which has raised £167.68 for our group. Thank you from all at SCGP!

Please donate to us online and, if you are a UK tax payer, Gift Aid will automatically add 25% to your donation on Localgiving.com at no extra cost to you, by claiming back the basic rate of UK tax paid.

We're planning a number of activities, trips and outings over the coming weeks and months - please contact Marion to find out more / book your place:

Saturday 21 June - outing to Gorgie City Farm in Edinburgh (leaving 10am, returning around 4pm) - GCF is a free-entry community owned initiative that aims to educate inner city children & adults about farming and food production

Monday 23 June - local foraging walk (6-8pm) with Catriona Gibson, Medical Herbalist - a fantastic opportunity to find out about foraging for food, medicine and even ingredients for beer!

Sunday 13 July - local foraging walk (10:30am to 12:30pm) - as above (check out our photos from the first foraging walk)

Sunday 10 August - our annual Family Fun Day in association with Shettleston Housing Association (12noon to 4pm) - lots of fun things for little kids and big kids alike including community stalls, face painting, home baking, displays, arts and crafts, music, food and refreshments, Mr Giggles, FREE ICE CREAM for all kids and prizes for best junior and best adult in fancy dress!

Saturday 23 August - trip to Ayr Flower Show (leaving 10am, returning around 4pm) - a family festival in which food and fun complement flowers and fruit

With winter now well and truly upon us, the Shettleston Community Growing Project's site at Eckford Street is now pretty much in hibernation until the spring. However, weather permitting, the volunteer group is continuing to work in the community garden and the committee is already getting organised for 2012.

The group's AGM is planned for 26 January at which both existing and new members will be welcome.

Plans for the second phase of the project, which will see an expansion into the derelict area of ground adjacent to the main site at Eckford Street, are still being progressed. A slight hitch with the planning application has held things up but the group is hopeful that this will be resolved soon and work can start in early January.

With the new site extension, there will be more opportunities for Shettleston and Tollcross residents to get involved and start growing their own vegetables. If you are interested, please get in touch with Kenny McCubbin, Project Co-ordinator, on 07530 985 483 or at the Shettleston Housing Association office on 0141 763 0511.

Shettleston Community Growing Project held its first Open Day on Sunday 18 September 2011 as part of Glasgow's Doors Open Day. Despite clashing with the first Old Firm match of the season, over 150 people came to look over the growing project site and enjoy the various stalls and activities on offer in the community garden. Check out the latest pictures in the photo gallery.

A high point of the day for the committee was being presented with a cheque for £800 from Balfour Beatty Rail Projects as a contribution towards the project.

A BTCV app is now available which allows you to calculate how much food you could grow in your garden - and how much cash it could save you. Packed full of tips and advice, this app not only helps you to get growing your own fruit and veg but also tells you how many food miles you could be saving.

There's even a collection of celebrity recipes to help you decide what to do with all your home grown goodies.

BTCV is the UK's leading environmental volunteering charity.

Get it now

At Shettleston Community Growing Project site in Eckford Street, we held our first barbecue on Sunday 26 June 2011.

Approximately forty members, our families and friends attended the event and a great time was had by all. The rain held off (just) and Bob and Anne kept us going with kebabs, burgers and hot dogs. Other members contributed refreshments, home baking and other good stuff to eat. We enjoyed salad and vegetables picked from our plots. Jane supplied us with Elderflower champagne made from elderflowers picked from the tree on site. It was lovely!

It was great to see this former derelict site transformed into a hub for the community to meet and relax. Members took the day off from digging and planting and enjoyed dining al fresco and chatting to family and friends.