Burgh Beautiful

Working towards a
Greener, Brighter Linlithgow

Progress Report - August 2005

To see larger versions of the photographs, click on the small thumbnail versions.

Dates for your Diary

Saturday 1st October 10am - 3pm Plant Sale at the Cross: Biennials for sale - wallflowers, pansies, forget-me-nots, foxgloves. Any offers of plants, nicely potted up, or excess produce, apples etc would be gratefully received. Contact Kirsty on 01506 848427
Thursday 13th October (to be confirmed) Open Meeting at the Burgh Halls: Speakers on Scotland in Bloom entry, time to discuss progress and ideas for next year, followed by glass of wine. Details will be published via the Gazette District Diary, posters in town and on www.lct.org.uk. Come, and bring a friend.

Progress Report

We have had a busy time this summer and managed to complete 12 projects around the town, plus the station. It has been a steep learning curve, but we feel we are getting there. Some plants have performed better than others and watering has proved a problem, as the Council only water once a week (5.30 am on Tuesdays, in case you were wondering why you never see them). We are trying to incorporate as much permanent planting as we can while still providing colourful displays. Much to our relief there has been very little vandalism.

We have been working closely with the NETS and Land Services team led by Jim Saunders and have had invaluable help from them. Bathgate entered Scotland in Bloom this year and have reached the top three in the large towns category. They will discover how they have done in the awards ceremony in September and we wish them luck. This is really good news, and Jim will be able to bring their experiences to bear on our efforts next year.


Rotary Planting at Springfield Rd.	New Plant Containers at the Cross	Linlithgow Bridge Bus Stop Tubs	Lowport Flower Bed

Six people kindly offered greenhouse space, enabling us to bring on our own plants for both planting and for fund raising. Their generosity is really appreciated. We had another successful Plant Sale at the end of May at the Cross, and also had a stall at the Round Table Fair.

Getting barrels and containers in place has been quite a challenge, and some of the planting went in a bit late, but the nine barrels at the station and six at the Star and Garter have been particularly successful. Liz Burrows did a great job in obtaining the barrels and getting them transported.

First ScotRail is encouraging Linlithgow and other stations to brighten uphave responded with some excellent cleaning and painting and a new roof for the waiting room on the Glasgow side. We shall be working with the primary schools to make some artwork for the Edinburgh side of the station.


Westport	Katie Wearie's Tree	Railway Station	Star & Garter

The pubs in the town have put on great displays and an increasing number of shops are putting up hanging baskets and pots at the door. The planters at the Cross fit in well and the Girl Guides, led by Breda Sneddon, have made great displays of medicinal herbs at the Health Centre.

We have hopefully galvanised Tesco to put pressure on the Regent Centre management to improve the whole area which is getting increasingly run down, and would certainly count against us in Scotland in Bloom. The marking scheme for judging has considerable emphasis on cleanliness, sustainability, recycling, biodiversity and community involvement.

Thanks go to Addiewell Distillery for providing the barrels and to B& Q who supplied some of the plants.

We have a number of new projects in hand for the winter and would really appreciate more volunteers to maybe help to push one more project through.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY HELP?

Anyone with an interest in getting involved can get in touch with Burgh Beautiful by e-mailing burgh-beautiful@lct.org.uk