Aberdeen Inspired has entered the BID category (Business Improvement District) in this year’s Beautiful Scotland Awards, joining many other BID’s from across the country to celebrate more than 50 years of community environmental improvement.
Administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful, a member of the RHS Bloom Federation, Beautiful Scotland recognises the efforts of local authorities and communities which work to improve their local cities, towns and villages.
The entrants have planted a large number of bulbs, organised local environmental awareness campaigns and encouraged mass volunteer participation – to improve the places they live and work in.
Now the planters are blooming, the streets are clean and the community is ready to showcase its hard work to the Beautiful Scotland judges.
Over a 14-day period, starting on Monday July 31 pairs of highly experienced volunteer judges will visit entrants, including Aberdeen city centre on Monday, August 7, as part of a tour which takes in small villages, large towns and major cities.
During the judging tour, three themes are examined - horticultural achievement, community participation and environmental responsibility - to discover which BIDs have been most successful in improving the attractiveness, cleanliness and sustainability of the places they care for. Aberdeen Inspired will be showing off their efforts in wildflower planting, improving the BID gateways as well as local and international street art.
Winning communities will be presented with awards at a ceremony in Fife in September 2017. The overall winner will be presented with the prestigious Rosebowl Trophy, while a number of discretionary awards will be presented for outstanding performance in areas such as biodiversity, tourism, and community involvement.
Some of the winners from Beautiful Scotland 2017 will go on to represent Scotland in the RHS Britain in Bloom Final in 2018.
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said: “We’re very proud to work with our partners to enter Beautiful Scotland this year to showcase a number of projects which have brought a splash of colour to the BID area and help increase biodiversity in the area.
“A lot of work has been done by Aberdeen City Council and a number of other groups to keep the city centre clean and create some wonderful plant and floral displays which I’m sure the judges will be impressed with.
“We have supported several bulb planning projects with primary schools as well as the development of a wildflower meadow on South College Street all of which have had a positive impact on the city centre.”
Carole Noble, Operations Director at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “For more than half a century local authorities and communities have come together to take responsibility for enhancing their local places with spectacular floral displays and innovative anti-littering campaigns. These activities would not happen without the many hundreds of people committing thousands of hours to looking after their communities on a voluntary basis.
“We sometimes forget the massive impact that a clean and green environment has on people. Beautiful Scotland groups have made, and continue to make, a massive difference to our country. I’d like to wish all the entrants the best of luck this year.”
Hanover Street School P6 pupil Oskar Ciok spreading wildflower seeds during the meadow planting at South College Street this Spring