The past months have seen a lot of change at EGP. In spring, we doubled our staff count, welcoming Rory as our new Volunteering Development Coordinator. Then, in July, our long-serving Project Coordinator, Anya, moved on to a new role away from EGP. Anya has been central to EGP’s development over the past few years, and we are tremendously grateful for everything she brought to our shared gardening community – she leaves us in a very strong position for our next chapter. We received an excellent response to our recruitment and will be delighted to welcome our new Project Coordinator in mid-September.
While these changes have caused some disruption behind the scenes, our partnerships have continued to flourish through this summer’s growing season. In our 2020 annual survey, we heard from our volunteers and garden owners just how important their partnership have been during the COVID-19 pandemic. And so it has been wonderful to see both gardens and relationships flourish during the summer months, and we have included a selection of photos that demonstrate that there is a strong element of fun to garden sharing.
At the same time, Rory has been busy exploring and planning ways to strengthen our volunteer community. Many of our volunteers have been keen for more events and opportunities to meet each other and we’ve been working with partners to plan and deliver events including a herb walk in Blackford Glen with Grass Roots Remedies and a tour of the Edible Garden Project at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.
Just before she left, Anya featured with one of our garden partnerships in a wonderful segment on BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday morning show. The clip really brings to life the magic of shared gardening and how it fosters relationships. We’re hoping to upload this to our website shortly, so you should be able to find the clip in our ‘news and events’ section.
Finally, 2021 is EGP’s ten-year anniversary. We are tremendously grateful to everyone who has been part of our work over the last decade, and we hope to be able to invite you to celebrate this milestone later in the year along with our community of gardeners, garden owners, and supporters.
