The Scottish Children’s Orchard project is moving east, bringing its healthy eating, environmentally friendly message from Glasgow to schools in Edinburgh, Dundee and Perthshire.
The initiative gives a new dimension to the old adage of “apple for the teacher” - its vision is to have children plant fruit trees near every child’s home.
In the past three years, some 80 Glasgow schools and community groups have planted 650 fruit trees across the city in parks, schools and common ground. Now it has taken its message of friendship planting to Balgreen Primary in Edinburgh, where the east-coast branch of the project was launched last week.
A key element of the initiative in Glasgow has been to encourage children from different schools or groups to plant together - pupils from denominational and non-denominational schools, and from mainstream and special schools.
John Hancox set up the Scottish Children’s Orchard with help from Forward Scotland and the Scottish Community Foundation.
E: john@weegarden.co.uk.
