It's Your Neighbourhood
It's Your Neighbourhood is a grassroots campaign to encourage community volunteers to take an interest in their local area. The campaign is run by Keep Scotland Beautiful and supported by the Royal Horticultural Society.
This year Maddiston Community Council took part in this event after being inspired by some of the things that other groups in the Falkirk area had achieved at the Litter Strategy awards early in 2015.
Here are some of the projects that we have been involved in over the last 12 months:
This year Maddiston Community Council took part in this event after being inspired by some of the things that other groups in the Falkirk area had achieved at the Litter Strategy awards early in 2015.
Here are some of the projects that we have been involved in over the last 12 months:
2016
2016 is off to a wet start but that doesn't stop us. This year we have a number of new projects, we are enhancing existing projects and starting to see effects of last year's efforts.
Muiravonisde Community Growing Area
February saw the establishment of a Growing Association who will take over the day to day running of the Community Growing Area. Now a year old, the growing area has gone from strength to strength with 24 of the 34 plots occupied by the start of the first full growing season for the area. Work will continue to improve the area by creating paths and raised beds to make the site fully accessible. |
Orphan Land Projects
The raised bed by California Road was replanted towards the end of last year with a range of flowers that will attract bees and butterflies as well as provide a beautiful display for the community. The first flowers have started to bring some colour to match the beautiful mosaic art work created by local children. |
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Valley Park
This year has seen more work to improve Valley Park, a new notice board has been installed at the entrance of the park to keep everyone up-to-date with goings on in the community. A hedged border has been created down the path with the help of TCV. New scrub was created by trees that were given to us by the Woodland Trust, further trees will be planted in the coming months. A wildflower meadow has been started on the slope at the main entrance of the park. |
2015 |
Muiravonside Community Orchard
Maddiston Community Council have worked along side Falkirk Community Trust and the Ranger at Muiravonside Country Park to apply for funding from Forth Valley Orchards to create a community orchard within Muiravonside Park. In January 2015 members of the community council joined a group of people from the local community at an all-day training session on tree grafting and pruning. Despite the rather chilli weather the group went on to plant the first 36 fruit trees in the orchard. This is the start of a larger project that will see the creation of an edible corridor in the park linking the community orchard with an existing ancient orchard. |
Muiravonside Community Growing Area
One the things that came out of the community action plan was a demand for some sort of area to grow fruit and vegetables. Several areas were looked at within the village but none found to be suitable for such a project.
Falkirk Community Trust kindly allowed the community council access to a piece of land next to the newly established community orchard to create a community growing area. This is a work in progress and at present there are a number of plots being rented and a waiting list for further plots to be ready by spring 2016.
As well as the individual plots, there are plans to create raised community plots that are suitable for wheelchair users. A growing association will be formed to manage and take ownership of this area in the long term while continuing to be supported by the community council and park ranger.
If you are interested in a plot please email [email protected] for more information.
Friends of Muiravonside
Concerns were raised by local residents about the care of Muiravonside Country Park. The community council worked together with members of Standburn and Avonbridge Community Council to push for improvements, especially to clear the trees that had fallen over paths. A new ranger is now in post at the park and we work closely with him in order to support park projects by encouraging community engagement and funding. Friends of Muiravonside will be a constituted group made up of local people whose aim is to support any initiatives within the park.
Concerns were raised by local residents about the care of Muiravonside Country Park. The community council worked together with members of Standburn and Avonbridge Community Council to push for improvements, especially to clear the trees that had fallen over paths. A new ranger is now in post at the park and we work closely with him in order to support park projects by encouraging community engagement and funding. Friends of Muiravonside will be a constituted group made up of local people whose aim is to support any initiatives within the park.
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Valley Park
Valley Park is the largest community green space in our village, because of this, it has been the centre of our efforts for creating a welcoming community space. We planted wetland whips from the woodland trust in to the marshy area near the burn to improve drainage and bioversity. An annual spring clean is carried out in the park including the clearing of any rubbish in the burn. In spring we had a wildflower sowing event which sowed a native wildflower mix along the edge of the burn to brighten up the park and encourage bees, butterflies and other wildlife. Further wild flower areas were planted along the edge of the path and on the hill behind the burn. A previous narrow muddy path was upgraded using money given to the community council from planning gain. The path network was upgraded to a wide flat path that allows buggies, wheelchairs and people all ages to use to get exercise and enjoy the local area. Thanks to match funding from Sustrans we were able to work with Falkirk Council to create a new path network throughout the village which has opened up some beautiful walks to Standburn and California which were until recently only suitable for those willing to scramble through muddy, uneven walks. More details on this walk can be found in the Explore Maddiston section of this website. New play equipment is also being installed in the park to add to the existing play facilities. This extension will allow the park to better cope with the growing number of youngsters in the village. |
Community Gardens and Orphan Land
We have several small areas within the village that we have taken responsibility for maintaining. Members of the community council plant and maintain the newly established war memorial. Due to necessary cuts within Falkirk Council budgets we are aware that flower beds in communities are not a high priority for maintenance, in order to keep these looking good we decided to 'adopt' the raised flower bed on the corner of California Road. This is a project funded by Keep Scotland Beautiful and will include art work designed by children from Maddiston Primary.
We also have been given a piece of 'orphan land' by the shops to turn into a garden. The orphan land project is a great scheme by the Litter Strategy Team of Falkirk Council which encourages communities to take ownership of neglected pieces of land in their community. More information can be found on their website and facebook page.
We have several small areas within the village that we have taken responsibility for maintaining. Members of the community council plant and maintain the newly established war memorial. Due to necessary cuts within Falkirk Council budgets we are aware that flower beds in communities are not a high priority for maintenance, in order to keep these looking good we decided to 'adopt' the raised flower bed on the corner of California Road. This is a project funded by Keep Scotland Beautiful and will include art work designed by children from Maddiston Primary.
We also have been given a piece of 'orphan land' by the shops to turn into a garden. The orphan land project is a great scheme by the Litter Strategy Team of Falkirk Council which encourages communities to take ownership of neglected pieces of land in their community. More information can be found on their website and facebook page.
Next year we are also looking to get involved in Tasty Spaces and wildflower verge projects.
We are always looking for volunteers to get involved in the projects, If you can spare a bit of time here and there and would like to get involved please contact: [email protected]
We are always looking for volunteers to get involved in the projects, If you can spare a bit of time here and there and would like to get involved please contact: [email protected]