Day: April 26, 2022

Dobbies announces Helping Your Community Grow shortlist

NORTH EDINBURGH COMMUNITY FESTIVAL IS ONE OF THREE FINALISTS

Dobbies, the UK’s leading garden centre, is helping one community project brighten up their green space in the Lothians with its Helping Your Community Grow initiative.

This spring, Dobbies’ Edinburgh store is supporting a sustainable project through its popular initiative. In recent months, community projects across Edinburgh and the Lothians were invited to nominate themselves for support and now a shortlist has been selected by local team members. People now have the chance to vote for their favourite project.

The winning project will then receive advice, products and support from their local Dobbies’ team. Sustainable products, such as peat-free compost and recycled pots, will be use wherever possible.

North Edinburgh Community Festival is looking for support to help them teach the community about how to grow their own produce and encourage them to get into gardening.

With a particular focus on the seed to plate approach and making produce last longer, Dobbies’ support would provide essential growing resources.

St Thomas of Aquin’s R.C. High School is striving to create an urban garden area for pupils, where they can learn about sustainable gardening practices and how to care for and protect the planet. 

Dobbies’ support would help the high school improve the overall wellbeing of their pupils through this green space, encourage them to get outdoors, and hopefully pique an interest in gardening. 

Ward 5 at East Lothian Community Hospital supports the elderly and cares for patients with a wide range of medical conditions and is looking to create a relaxing space for the body and mind. 

Dobbies’ resources would help the ward spruce up their outdoor terrace area with vibrant plants and planters to make it a beautiful garden for all to enjoy.

Dobbies’ CEO, Graeme Jenkins, said: “Helping Your Community Grow is a really popular initiative in Edinburgh and the Lothians and we’ve seen a great response from community groups and projects looking to make a difference to their local area.

It’s been positive to see so many projects place importance on sustainability and environmentally-friendly products.

“Now the community voting gets underway and we’re looking forward to seeing which projects receive our support.”

In addition to the Edinburgh winner, the project which receives the most votes across the UK will win the national Helping Your Community Grow title, gaining additional support from Dobbies to deliver their project.

There will be further opportunities for community groups looking to brighten up their local areas. Community groups are invited to contact their local store for details of the community initiatives available on a case-by-case basis.

Voting will remain open until 16 May.

For more information on how to register your vote, visit Helping Your Community Grow | Dobbies Garden Centres.

UK boosts humanitarian support to help Ukraine’s beleaguered hospitals

  • UK is sending more ambulances and fire engines to Ukraine as part of continued support to the country
  • New UK funding to help train Ukrainian doctors to deal with mass casualties and vital medicine following Russian attacks on Ukrainian hospitals
  • Donations are in response to a request from Ukraine’s Government as they regain access to medical facilities in frontline cities

New ambulances, fire engines, funding for health experts and life-saving medical supplies are being donated to Ukraine as part of the UK’s continued steadfast solidarity with the country, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced today (Tuesday 26 April).

There have been more than 130 attacks on healthcare facilities since the invasion and the UN has recorded around 4,800 civilian casualties. More than 100 fire stations and 250 fire engines have been destroyed in Ukraine.

The UK is supplying 22 new ambulances to Ukraine – in addition to those from NHS Trusts already announced – equipped with paramedic kits and medical grab bags. They are due to leave for Ukraine in the coming days. This is in direct response to a request from the Ukrainian government.

Two further convoys of more than 40 fire engines – packed with thousands of items of rescue equipment including 300 fire hoses and almost 10,000 items of protective clothing – have arrived in Ukraine and are already providing vital support to firefighters on the frontline. This is the largest fire deployment to ever leave the UK.

The UK has already committed up to $1 billion in loan guarantees to support Multilateral Development Banks, such as the World Bank, to bolster Ukraine’s economy and allow the government in Kyiv to continue providing basic services. The total offer of humanitarian support to the current Ukraine crisis is around £400 million.

This goes alongside the Prime Minister’s commitment to continue to provide defensive military aid, including protected mobility vehicles, drones and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine – reiterated on a call to President Zelenskyy on the weekend.

Last week the Prime Minister announced Ukrainian personnel are being trained in the use of armoured vehicles in the United Kingdom.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We have all been appalled by the abhorrent images of hospitals deliberately targeted by Russia since the invasion began over two months ago.

“The new ambulances, fire engines and funding for health experts announced today will better equip the Ukrainian people to deliver vital health care and save lives.

“Together with our military support, we will help to strengthen Ukraine’s capability to make sure Putin’s brutal invasion fails.”

Frontline medical aid charity, UK-Med, will receive funding – worth up to £300,000 – from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to help train Ukrainian doctors, nurses and paramedics on how to deal with mass casualties.

They will also set up mobile health clinics to support the most vulnerable civilians remaining in Ukraine, including the elderly and young children.

The UK is also donating £300,000 worth of medicines and pharmaceutical supplies to UK-Med which could support a hospital for up to six weeks.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “The Kremlin continues to lie about deliberate attacks on Ukraine’s hospitals and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

“Now our vital humanitarian support will help save lives and deliver medical expertise to the frontline.”

Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “I was privileged to be able to visit Ashford and meet the volunteers and civil servants behind the fire aid shipments to Ukraine.

“This aid demonstrates the tremendous practical work that Britain’s public servants are doing for the people of Ukraine, and is an example of the good-heartedness of the British people and their determination to help.”

More than five million medical items have also been donated to Ukraine including wound packs, intensive care equipment and medicines.

At the beginning of March, UK-Med launched a national fundraising appeal to fund its work in Ukraine and has sent 26 doctors, nurses, paramedics, surgeons and humanitarian health programme specialists to the country.

UK-Med CEO David Wightwick who’s currently in Eastern Ukraine said: “I’ve seen with my own eyes the devastating impact of this cruel war. Ensuring the more than 7 million internally displaced people across the country have access to vital primary health care is and will continue to be of the upmost importance for many months to come.

“This very welcome funding from the UK government will enable us to continue to deliver primary health care and lifesaving specialist clinical training in both the east and the west of the country, reaching those who need it most.

“We’re proud to stand in solidarity with the people and with our Ukrainian medical colleagues in this desperate time.”