Nine-year-old Elodie from Niddrie Mill Primary School has been named the winner of a recent competition launched by Fort Kinnaird to design a label for the honey produced by its resident beehives.
Elodie was one of 115 pupils from the local primary school to take part in the contest, with Fort Kinnaird choosing her hand-drawn design to be printed on the labels.
As part of Fort Kinnaird’s longstanding partnership with Scottish homelessness charity, Cyrenians, the jars of honey featuring Elodie’s design will be donated to food redistribution service, FareShare, helping to give back to the local community. FareShare aims to reduce food waste while also tackling food inequality across the country.
Elodie and the five runners up, Elena, Kamsi, Layah, Lola, and Ella celebrated with a visit from the Cyrenians team and Liam Smith, centre director at Fort Kinnaird, who awarded them with vouchers to enjoy a well-deserved shopping spree at the centre in recognition of their winning designs.
Liam Smith, centre director at Fort Kinnaird, said: “It’s been great to see the children of Niddrie Mill Primary School get involved in our competition. We were really impressed by the creativity of all the designs, but Elodie’s really stood out to us.
“We’re proud that our beehives are having such a positive impact on our local community, not just in terms of sustainability by promoting biodiversity but also by providing an opportunity for us to support the vital work of Cyrenians through donating to their FareShare service and ensuring the honey is put to good use.”
Judith Hughes, Director of Income Generation, Marketing and Communication at Cyrenians, said: “We’re really pleased to be part of this community initiative with Fort Kinnaird and Niddrie Mill Primary School.
“Our FareShare initiative provides vital support to people across Scotland, and we think that the honey complete with Elodie’s lovely design will bring a smile to those using our service.”
Cheryl Miller, Sustainability Lead at Niddrie Mill Primary School, said: “Our students really enjoyed being involved in Fort Kinnaird’s competition and it’s great to know that their work will have a positive impact on our community, which is so important to us as a school.”
The competition follows pupils from Niddrie Mill visiting the beehives at Fort Kinnaird back in June, during which they learned all about the world of bees – including how they are essential to the local environment, how hives function, and what it takes to care for bees first-hand.
Fort Kinnaird runs the beehives in partnership with Colin Mackie, a local beekeeper who has tended to the beehives since they were established in May 2024.
For more details and to plan your day at Fort Kinnaird, please visit: