WEDNESDAY 22nd APRIL from 4 – 4.45pm
Come and meet our new seeds!
They’re all neatly packed in envelopes and waiting to go to new homes. Or perhaps you have some of your own that need somewhere new to grow?
You can swap or use packets from our brand-new seed library. Lisa will advise you in this handy drop-in session if you have questions.
In partnership with Granton Community Gardeners .
Excited to announce our 11th annual Burns Night Community Ceilidh! Always a highlight of the Winter!
Tickets now on sale from Royston Wardieburn Community Centre reception (weekdays, cash only), and Granton Garden Bakery (Saturdays 10-1, cash or card). All tickets £4. Under 10s free.
If you’d like to volunteer to help at the event, or to offer a short performance (a turn) please contact tom@grantoncommunitygardeners.org
All volunteers and performers get a free ticket.
With Ama-zing Harmonies, musicians from Tinderbox Collective, and the Granton Primary School poets. Pilton Community Health Project, Granton Youth.
Please join us for a community walk along the coast from Wardie Bay to Granton / Royston (the ‘Brick’) Beach to search for flat oyster shells on Remembrance Day for Lost Species.
Meet on November 30th 2025 at 2pm to walk together and find out about the restoration of seagrass habitats and European flat oyster populations in the Firth of Forth – a species which used to be abundant and was fished to local extinction around 100 years ago.
Together, we will search for evidence of these flat oysters, and there will be talking and sharing about our concerns for the health of the sea and the species who live in, and depend on, it.
We anticipate the event lasting 1.5 hours. It may be cold, so please bring a flask of something hot and wear warm clothes and suitable footwear. We will end at The Pitt where a variety of drinks and food will be on sale.
This event has been thought up by Katie Smith from Granton Community Gardeners who is working to gather local knowledge about our wildlife and build a Granton nature restoration plan, and Tamsin Grainger, local walking artist with an interest in local history and community wellbeing.
Free (you can make a donation to cover costs if you like).
Everyone is welcome including children and dogs. This walk will be manageable on wheels. We aim to be inclusive and open.
We hope to walk with representatives from Restoration Forth and Edinburgh Shoreline
Wildflower Planting in East Pilton Park this Saturday 10.30-1 (11th October) with Granton Community Gardeners. Free, family friendly activity.
Join us to add wildflower seeds and spring bulbs to the long grass patches of East Pilton Park (around the new tree plantings).
As well as looking beautiful, we hope to improve the area for pollinators and also increase the number of invertebrates (insects and other wee bugs) for our local birds to eat.
We are particularly hoping to help increase the food supply for our nearby swift colony and this project goes hand in hand with plans we have to give the swifts more good local nesting sites by adding swift boxes to buildings.
Amazingly, the council’s ecologists have found that long grass areas can have as much as 90 times more life than short grass. Let’s add flowers to make them even better!
Please get in touch if you’re planning to come so we can bring a sensible number of tools: email katie@grantoncommunitygardeners.org
(Also dress for the weather, and bear in mind that the closest public toilets are in Ainsley Park Leisure Centre).
You can also check out more about our ‘Nature in Granton’ project via new page on our website:
NATURE IN GRANTON: WE WANT YOUR VIEWS!
More or less trees, foxes or gulls? Get that grass cut or let the wildflowers grow? Is nature helping with your mental health, or helping kids let off steam? Are there ways we could help nature thrive more, or should we tarmac the lot?!
Would you be up for chatting about nature in Granton for an hour for a £10 voucher (for Morrisons or Granton Garden Bakery – your choice)?
We’ll be running focus groups: Tuesday 7th October: 10-11am or 11.30am-12.30, at Pilton Community Health Project, 73 Boswall Parkway. (tea/coffee and biscuits provided).
Places limited: to sign up please email: tom@grantoncommunitygardeners.org
We’re also launching an online survey, and would be grateful if anyone local could spend a few minutes filling it in (as much or little as you like):
Edinburgh’s pioneering Regenerative Futures Fund has reached a major milestone in its long-term effort to shift power and resources into the hands of communities tackling poverty, racism and the climate crisis.
From 97 proposals, a Panel, made up of 15 Edinburgh residents with direct experience of poverty and racism, selected 34 projects to advance to the next stage of funding.
50% of selected projects are led by Black and People of Colour, reflecting the city’s commitment to dismantling racism, tackling the climate transition, ending poverty, and addressing the interconnected challenges shaping a just and thriving future.
Included among the projects initially selected are local initiatives Lauriston Farm Collective, Muirhouse Youth Development Group and R2 (above).
The Resident’s Panel has spent months listening, learning and working through each application with care, mapping projects across the City by geography, theme, and approach. Projects selected will enter the capacity-building phase, from August until December, giving groups the time, space and funding to develop full proposals for long-term, unrestricted funding.
Proposals submitted at the start of 2026 will then be considered for an annual award of £100,000, for ten years. Between 10 and fifteen projects will be selected.
However, the work of the fund goes beyond this as all 34 groups, and dozens more from the initial 97 projects, have registered interest in joining the Regenerative Futures Fund wider network for peer learning, collaboration and collective action – a shared movement for the future of Edinburgh.
“We’re here to build movements, as well as to distribute funds,” says Aala Ross, Co-Head of the Fund. “If we accept that the Fund exists to redistribute power, not just resources, we can reimagine our role as something more powerful.
We nurture conditions for collective power, we build trust across difference, and we learn together, to challenge the systems that shape our lives.”
Leah Black, Co-Head, adds: “We’re flipping the usual script on funding. We’re saying: here’s the time, here’s the space, here’s the support – now let’s imagine and build the future we actually want.
“That’s what makes this different. It’s rooted in care, equity and collaboration, and it’s led by the people who live and breathe these challenges every day.”
The Regenerative Futures Fund is backed by some of the UK’s biggest charitable funders, including the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The National Lottery Community Fund, The Robertson Trust, Turn2us Edinburgh Trust, Foundation Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council.
Crucially, these funders have stepped back from decision-making, placing control firmly with local people.
City Council Leader Jane Meagher said “Five years ago, Edinburgh became the first UK city to set a target date to end poverty. To achieve this, we must be ambitious and drive the change that is so greatly needed, which means being brave and being innovative.
“We know this is a challenging time for the third sector and we’re working to increase stability for organisations. By giving greater, longer-term support to community projects, they can get on with what they do best – supporting residents, tackling poverty, and changing lives.
“Edinburgh’s Regenerative Futures Fund is a unique new fund to help us achieve just that and end poverty together.
“I’m excited to see a shortlist drawn up by individuals with lived experience of poverty and looking forward to funding awards being presented early next year.”
In September, the wider network of applicants and community groups will come together for the first time to begin a city-wide journey of learning, connection and shared action.
The Fund is also inviting new partners, funders, donors, philanthropists and supporters to join this long-term collaborative effort to reimagine how resources are shared in the city.
For more information, including the list of the 34 projects in the capacity-building phase, visit Services 4 — Regenerative Futures Fund | Working Together Towards A Regenerative And Just Future For Edinburgh | Community Fund | Scotland – UK
SUMMER BBQ THIS WEDS 30th JULY 2-5pm (or when the food runs out). FREE, at the community garden (10 Wardieburn Road).
With BBQ from Scran Academy, bread from Granton Garden Bakery, and salad from Lauriston Farm (Edinburgh Agroecology Coop). ALL WELCOME!
Wednesday gardening club is on as usual from 1pm.
Dr Bike will be in 2-4pm -Free bike safety checks (thanks to R2 and North Edinburgh Arts)
Please note, this event with the Scran Van is earlier than our usual 5pm for the last Wednesday of the month.
LEARN ABOUT LOCAL NATURE WITH COMMUNITY GARDENERS
Can you help us learn about nature in Granton?
We have a new project to survey, map and learn about our local wildlife and how nature and people can live well together in Granton.
We’d love to see your nature photos and hear about the wildlife that you see!
We’re also looking for people who would be willing to do regular surveys on a walk, in a park or in your own garden.
No experience needed, just curiosity and a willingness to learn.
Suitable for children too.
Get in touch with Katie on katie@grantoncommunitygardeners.org to find out more.
Why not get your bike checked, serviced, and fixed for FREE by Dr Bike experts?
Check out the dates for the upcoming bike sessions in North Edinburgh. No booking needed, just drop in!
Open to all local residents.
16 July – Fresh Start (2–4pm) Fresh Start
24 July – Lauriston Farm (3–5pm)
30 July – Granton Community Gardeners (2–4pm) Granton Community Gardeners
6 August – Fresh Start (2–4pm)
14 August – Lauriston Farm (3–5pm)
27 August – Granton Community Gardeners (2–4pm)
Part of R2 North Edinburgh Active Travel Project
WINDFALL FOR GRANTON COMMUNITY GARDENERS
The Urban Forestry Programme is supporting projects in urban areas to help more people experience the benefits of trees
Future Woodlands Scotland (FWS), the charity dedicated to creating and conserving woodlands across Scotland, has selected the first seven projects to receive large grants of up to £100,000 from its Urban Forestry Programme Challenge Fund.
The Urban Forestry Programme is an ambitious ten-year project that sees FWS working alongside project founding partner bp to support and improve green spaces in Scotland’s cities, towns, and urban areas.
The seven successful projects focus on increasing access to green spaces in underserved areas, promoting biodiversity, and enhancing the quality of life for residents. They aim to create a long-lasting impact on local communities, offering opportunities for outdoor education, mental and physical health improvement, and strengthening community ties.
The projects include:
An arts and environmental project based in Govanhill which invites residents, artists and growers to co-create a dispersed orchard across the neighbourhood.
Planting street trees, woodland planting, hedgerows and habitat creation in the Govan and Dalmarnock areas of Glasgow.
Planting a combination of whips and standard trees in school grounds in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire.
Working with residents, schools and community organisations to establish woodlands and orchards within two council housing estates in Edinburgh.
Planting trees in parks and public green spaces, residential areas and school grounds and giving residents the opportunity to be involved.
Planting trees in strategic locations across South Lanarkshire, with a link to Clyde Climate Forest to allow collaboration with partners.
A partnership project with Granton Community Gardeners to support tree planting and ecological connectivity in three areas of the city including co-design with residents.
Funding for these projects follows an announcement earlier this year about the first three projects – Friends of Inch Park, Friends of Linn Park and Norton Park SCIO – to receive small grants of almost £51,000 between them.
A total of 33 applications were submitted across two competitive grant categories: projects ranging from £2,000 to £20,000, and those ranging from £20,000 to £100,000.
Shireen Chambers, CEO of FWS said: “It’s been fantastic to see the response to the first year of the Urban Forestry Programme Challenge Fund with 10 projects selected for funding across both grant categories.
“We looked for projects with a strong urban focus which prioritise areas most in need of trees and woodlands. We want to ensure everyone can benefit from trees – by learning about them, engaging in their care or simply spending time around them.
“These greening projects will bring more trees into the heart of our towns and cities – enhancing spaces, strengthening communities and helping more people connect with nature.
“We are proud to lead this important initiative with the backing of our founding partner bp and we look forward to seeing how these projects create lasting change over the coming years.”
Projects were chosen based on the contribution they could make to the Urban Forestry Programme goal of helping towns and cities across Scotland achieve the 3:30:300 rule: everyone should see three trees from their home, every neighbourhood should have 30% tree canopy and quality green space within 300 metres
The City of Edinburgh Council was awarded £100,000 over three years to recruit a Canopy Development Officer for its Canopy Communities project.
The project will support the co-design of greener spaces in three areas of the city, educating residents on species, biodiversity and the importance of trees, with the aim of achieving 30% canopy cover.
City of Edinburgh Council Leader Jane Meagher said: “Trees make life better for everyone and this is an opportunity to plant more, where people want them.
“We know just how important green spaces are to people’s health and wellbeing and initiatives like Canopy Communities, alongside others like our commitment to become a Million Tree City by 2030 and our Thriving Green spaces 2050 strategy, are about involving communities to create, protect, and sustain woodland and biodiversity across Edinburgh.
“I’m delighted with this funding, which will let us progress essential work on our Canopy Communities project. It recognises the impact this project will have on enhancing and growing green space in the city where it is most needed.”
Increasing the number of trees in Scotland’s cities and towns is crucial in supporting the journey to net zero and delivering a wide range of socio-economic benefits. Urban tree cover is currently less than 16%, much lower than the EU average of 30.2%.
Applications for funding were assessed using the Tree Equity tool, which was created to address imbalances in urban tree distribution by American Forests, a US non-profit organisation, and was brought to the UK by the Woodland Trust and Centre for Sustainable Healthcare.
In addition to the 10 funded projects, the Urban Forestry Programme has also supported two pilot projects: a fruit and nut tree planting project in Stirling, and a tree warden volunteer scheme in Glasgow.
Applications for the 2025 Urban Forestry Programme Challenge Fund will open in November.
More information on the Urban Forestry programme is available at www.futurewoodlands.org.uk
