Past Events and News

2008

Visit to Hungary
Gardener, Richard Bruce visited Hungary with Hospitalfield House staff in July to take part in a bread making artistic event. This was the second part of a three year event involving art projects in various parts of Europe.

Trellis meeting - April
Trellis, an organisation that promotes health through agriculture, held a network meeting at Hospitalfield House in April. HOPE hosted this event.

Recycled plastic bottle greenhouse
Recycled plastic bottle greenhouse. This was constructed by the staff in the spring of 2008. It has been very successful and has attracted a lot of interest. There are plans to construct a second one in the Walled
Garden.
 
John Muir Awards
The staff have been undertaking these awards and there are plans for some of trainees to do these awards, which are designed to heighten awareness of environmental issues.

Walled Garden
There has been extensive work carried out by staff and volunteers to restore the Walled Garden. Some trainees have grown their own vegetables in a rabbit free area for the first time. There are areas
with herbs and it is hoped to grow cut flowers in the future.

Muirfield Primary School 
This school is situated very close to HOPE. This spring groups of children visited the garden. The Nursery Class planted daffodils in the wild flower meadow. Primaries 1 & 2 visited in connection with a healthy eating programme at the school.

Quiz night - Thursday 20th March
This was held at the Star Inn in Friockheim, with quizmasters Sandy and Ann Stuart. There was a raffle and stovies were served, and the grand total at the end of the evening was £328.

Spring bulb sale - Saturday 1st March
This was timed to coincide with Mother's Day, and we sold other spring plants as well as bulbs.  We raised over £460!

2007

Punch in the Polytunnel - Saturday 18th December
We got into the festive spirit at the HOPE Garden, and picked up some Christmas presents at our winter plant sale. 

Coffee morning - Saturday 10th November
This was held at  Old and Abbey Church hall, West Abbey St, Arbroath. As well as the usual coffee morning stalls, we had HOPE produce for sale, and a stall by Angus LETS (Local Exchange Trading Scheme).  

Open Day - Sunday 9th September
We had plants and organic veges for sale, with a polytunnel opening event at 2.30pm. There was a sponsored football match at 1pm - Arbroath trainees vs Montrose trainees.

AGM - Wednesday 23rd August
This was held at the Volunteer Centre Angus offices in Arbroath.

Soil Association Organic Fortnight 07 - 1st-16th September
H.O.P.E. is a member of the Soil Association, which organised an Organic Fortnight. Businesses, individuals and communities across Britain joined together to celebrate all things organic, stage events and promote organic products up and down the country. This year they called on the nation to 'Wake up to an Organic Breakfast', encouraging everyone to try an organic breakfast during the Fortnight whether at home, at work or out and about. Customers of the H.O.P.E. vege box scheme received a special offer in their box during this fortnight - a cookbook called "Boxing Clever", available to those who join the Soil Association.

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
We were one of the two Angus winners of this award for 2007 - the other was Radio North Angus. This award began in the Queen's jubilee year in 2002; it recognises the vital role played by the hundreds of thousands of ‘unsung heroes’ of the voluntary and community world and emphasises the importance of continuing recognition of their work. Visit the award's website to see the list of this year's winners in Scotland.

This award was presented to Cedric de Voil (HOPE's chairman) by Georgiana Osborne (the Lord Lieutenant for Angus) at a reception in the magnificent Hospitalfield House on 29th August 2007. Cedric's speech on that occasion paid tribute to the people who have contributed so much to its success.

Visit to Hungary
Gardeners Bernie and Joyce and trainee Gerry spent 4 days in Hungary in May as the guests of the Hospitalfield Trust. They stayed near Budapest. This visit was organised by Mr William Payne, the Director of the Hospitalfield Trust. HOPE had previously taken part in an art project on the colour green. This project is taking place in two German centres, at Fort Monostri in Hungary and at Hospitalfield House in Arbroath.

Vegetable box scheme
This year's scheme will started on Monday 18th June. This year's warm weather has resulted in most crops growing faster than usual. Boxes cost £6. Extra produce can be obtained at the Garden on weekday afternoons.

Spring Plant Sale
Despite poor weather on May 12th we still managed to raise £570. A BBQ and refreshments were available, and there was face painting, family activities and tours of the garden - something for the whole family! There are still plenty of plants for sale weekday afternoons at the garden.

Coffee morning draws a crowd and funds
Our coffee morning on 17th March was well supported by local people, raising much-valued funds for our ongoing activities. We shared the Old & Abbey church premises that morning with the new Angus LETS group, who share some members in common with HOPE.

HOPE receives two significant rewards
Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland have donated the second half of their £20,000 award which is being given over 2 years, to help fund one of the gardener's salaries.

The Robertson Trust has awarded HOPE a grant of £27,000 which will be paid over 3 years. The first instalment of £11,000 received in January 2007 will be used to renew polytunnels and to purchase equipment for the trainees and staff.

2006

Variety Show - 7.30pm 28th November with Radio Scotland and Michelle McManus
HOPE organised a fundraising concert jointly with Radio Scotland at the Reid Hall in Forfar. The concert was recorded to be broadcast as part of a series called 'Lets Do the Show'. Local acts who played in the first half included Stephen Carcary, Angus Folk singing group, Something Broken, and a samba and bagpipe band from Forfar Academy. The concert was compered by the well-known Pop Idol celebrity, Michelle McManus, who also sang in the second half.

There was great excitement at the gardens as two members of the Radio Scotland production team, Karen and Rebecca came down to visit the gardens and gather some material. They spoke to lots of people, including trainees, volunteers, staff……..even some customers who had called in to buy vegetables. They seemed very impressed by all that HOPE were doing and left with some bags of tatties, onions and beans.

Here is Karen McKenzie from Radio Scotland interviewing trainee Bill Cadger, garden supervisor Richard Bruce and trustee Sandy Stuart.

Charity Challenge - Sponsored Cycle in November
Kirsty McReady, proprietor of the Star Inn in Friockheim, registered with Charity Challenge to participate in the Rajastan Tiger Bike Race Expedition (17-28 November). All sponsorship money that she raised will benefit H.O.P.E.

Angus Open Doors weekend in September
The garden was open for visitors to take a tour and to purchase plants - many of the visitors to our famous neighbour, Hospitalfield House, also visited the garden. This was a great way to raise the profile of H.O.P.E in our local community.

Arbroath SeaFest
Once again H.O.P.E ran the cafe in the Community Centre where the Craft Fair is held - it's a great fundraiser and the big team of volunteers who helped in the kitchen and served the tables did a great job.

AGM and Public Meeting
The AGM was again held at Lochlands Adult Resource Centre in Arbroath, and featured local farmer Gill Lawrie as speaker, focusing on her work in schools for the Angus Countryside Initiative.

New member of staff
Following Bernie's decision to work part-time with H.O.P.E., Richard is now the garden supervisor and Bernie job-shares with Joyce Pearce. Joyce is a graduate of Angus College with an NC in horticulture, and works at the garden on Tuesdays and Fridays, with Bernie doing the other three days of the week. Joyce has her own allotment and is a keen organic gardener.

Extension of gardening activity at Hospitalfield
Following discussions with the director at Hospitalfield House, H.O.P.E. has extended into the walled garden nearer to the house. The weeds are gradually coming under control, and the fruit trees, raspberries and bushes have been pruned.

Lots of fundraising activity!
2006 started with a round of HOPE fundraisers - a quiz night at Friockheim in February, a coffee morning in Arbroath in March, then back to Friockheim in April for a fashion show presented by La Moda. Fun and fundraising certainly went hand in hand at all these events! The Spring Plant Sale at the garden also went well, and resulted in additional plant sales in the following weeks.

2005

Fundraising successes
Our sponsored walk and pool competition in October raised £522.90. We also earned £1,400 through our Punch in the Polytunnel morning in December and through the sale of Christmas wreaths.

Disco
Every winter HOPE holds a disco for the trainees and volunteers and their families and friends. This was a great night out in mid-December at the Viewfield Hotel; the dance floor was always busy and people were keen to try out their skills with the karaoke!

Music to the ears
HOPE supporters enjoyed an October evening of jazz at the Abbey Theatre in Arbroath, swinging to the sounds of the Hill St Band. A successful raffle swelled the coffers too!

Visit to Beechgrove
The trainees returned the compliment of the Beechgrove team and visited them in their garden in Aberdeenshire in September.

Another fundraising success
Our need for funds is constant, and so is our fundraising. Our autumn coffee morning on 24th September took place once again in the lovely hall at the Old & Abbey Church, West Abbey St, Arbroath. Thanks to all those who came along to have a cuppa with us on this morning. We had a raffle, tombola, home baking, and of course a plant stall! Contributions to the stalls and help to staff them were much appreciated.

Providing sustenance of a different sort
Once again we provided the refreshments and light meals over the weekend of the Arbroath Seafest (20th-21st August). This local festival gets bigger and bigger every year - last year numbers topped 30,000. Our cafe was held in the Arbroath Community Centre in Marketgate, where the craft fair operates, and was a very busy and profitable event.

The year in review
Our AGM for 2005 was held on Wednesday 13th July at Lochlands Adult Resource Centre, Cairnie Rd, Arbroath. The guest speaker was Mr Michael Hill OBE, Joint Managing Trustee of the Murton Wildlife Trust for Environmental Education at Forfar.

We were on the telly!
The Beechgrove Garden film crew and presenter Lesley Watson visited H.O.P.E on 30th June to film the trainees, volunteers and staff in action. We featured on their programme on BBC1 Scotland and Sky Digital Channel 941 at 7pm on Thursday 7th July. Many thanks to everyone who rallied around on the day, and especially to Bernie and Richard, who overcame their camera shyness for the sake of the project!

BT Community Connections
HOPE has been successful in receiving a computer from BT under its Community Connections scheme. We have still to decide where this will be sited, but it will make a big difference to the garden staff, who have a lot of paperwork in connection with the College modules and the Soil Association certification procedures.

Friends of HOPE evening
We launched Friends of HOPE at our 10 year anniversary event in June 2004, to help sustain the project when the lottery funding runs out in two years' time. We are looking for supporters to become more involved in a practical way as well as helping to sustain the financial needs of the garden. We held a Friends of HOPE evening at Bruce House in Arbroath in April to explain what being a "friend" really means and to enjoy a social evening.

Welcome to Bernie Dawks
Bernadette (Bernie) Dawks started work as HOPE's new garden development worker on 11th April 2005. Bernie lives in Montrose and has worked at the Walled Garden in Stracathro for several years. There she developed an extensive vegetable garden and reorganised the flower borders on an alphabetical basis. Before that, Bernie was a volunteer gardener at the House of Dun. Bernie's work at Stracathro has involved her with some of Sunnyside Hospital's long-term psychiatric patients.

We welcome her joining Richard Bruce at the garden and we know that she will be trying out some new activities once she has become established.

Farewell to Debbie Lochhead
Our head gardener, Debbie Lochhead, moved onto new pastures in January 2005. Her new job is working with learning disabled people in horticulture at Elmwood College in Cupar. We wish her all the best in this new venture!

Debbie gave almost 4 years to HOPE. Her enthusiasm and imagination let the project develop beyond our dreams and we are all very grateful to her. She will still have contact with HOPE and plans to support our future fundraising events, so we have not said a final goodbye to her. At the HOPE coffee morning on 5th March in St Andrew's Church, Arbroath, we made a presentation to her to mark our appreciation of her years of dedication to the trainees, volunteers and supporters of HOPE. We hope that the rowan, laburnum and flowering crab apple trees will flourish in her garden and remind her of her time at HOPE.

New Modules
Richard has introduced new Environmental Modules which 5 trainees have taken up. As a result, there are now several new environmental areas around the garden. The first stages of the modules have been completed, and there will be follow-up sections, including asessing of the environmental benefits of the areas that have been created.

New Tea Shed
After a long delay, which was caused by the need to disconnect and reconnect the electricity, we now have a lovely big tea shed. Fortunately the early part of the winter was mild, but in the cold spell that followed it has been a real boon.
We are grateful to the Forsyth Fund and the William Coull Anderson Trust for their contributions towards the funding of the shed.

2004

Raffle
HOPE held a raffle over the coffee morning and Punch in the Polytunnel events in the last quarter of 2004. The main prizes were two water colour paintings presented to HOPE by local artist, Helen Whamond and a box of HOPE's organic vegetables. We were really pleased when gardener Richard Bruce won the paintings!

Disco
Every winter HOPE holds a disco for the trainees and volunteers and their families and friends. This was a great night out at the end of November; the dance floor was always busy and people were keen to try out their skills with the karaoke!

Sponsored walk
About 20 hardy people turned out on a rainy afternoon to walk the St Vigeans Nature Trail and back on 10th October. Some of them were in fancy dress. Thank you to the folks who provided refreshments in St Vigeans Church hall afterwards. It was greatly appreciated. Despite the rain it was a very enjoyable experience.

Grant Aid Award
Angus Council has given HOPE £2,430 of Grant Aid for the year 2004 / 2005. This will cover the costs of electricity, water, insurance and the hire of the portaloo facility. It was also covers the cost of protective clothing for the trainees and volunteers.

Arbroath Hospitals Social Club
HOPE was one of number of local groups to be awarded £150 by the Arbroath Hospitals Social Club. Trainees - Scott Bates, Norman Paul and James Taylor went along to Arbroath Infirmary on 30th September to be presented
with the cheque.

Garden Open Day
H.O.P.E. held an Open Day at the garden on Sunday 12th September from 11am till 4pm, to coincide with the opening of our neighbour, Hospitalfield House, as part of Angus Council's Open Doors Scheme. . There were plants and organic vegetables on sale as well as home baking and soup. Several visitors came to see both venues and we had some new additions to the vegetable box scheme subscribers. Debbie's vegetable mulligatawny soup was particularly popular!

10 Years of Gardening at the HOPE Garden

This year marks 10 years of gardening at the organic garden, situated in the grounds of Hospitalfield House. A number of events have been organised to celebrate this important milestone.

Celebration Dance
H.O.P.E. had a ceilidh type dance on 23rd April at the Meadowbank Inn. Trainees, volunteers and supporters had an enjoyable night out together. Highlight of the evening was the accordion played by Euan and Murray Farquharson, brothers from Dundee, who are both supported by Sense Scotland. Euan has been coming to the garden since March 2004 and hopes to take his first SQA gardening module in the second half of 2004.

Garden Party
Wednesday 16th June was the date chosen for a garden party which was held in a marquee at the organic garden. Invitations were sent to all the organisations and individuals who have supported H.O.P.E. over the past 10 years. Despite rather poor weather, this was a very happy occasion with all the trainees present. Deputy Provost of Angus, Stewart McGlinn gave a short congratulatory speech and H.O.P.E. Chairman Cedric de Voil gave a resume of the achievements of H.O.P.E. over the past 10 years.

Over 20 trainees were presented with Certificates of Achievement by Debbie Lochhead and Richard Bruce, H.O.P.E.'s gardeners. The trainees will receive their SQA certificates in August. Almost all the H.O.P.E. trainees have passed SQA modules in the past year. Since Debbie and Richard qualified as workplace assessors two years ago over 20 trainees have participated in gardening related SQA modules, verified by Angus College and certificated by nationally by the Scottish Qualification Agency. Modules completed and passed include Workstart gardening skills, Handtools used in horticulture and a Land Industries Module. For some of the trainees this was their first ever academic qualification and it was moving to witness how much this mattered to them.

The ceremony was followed by the cutting of a celebration cake by Michael and Sylvia, who have been with H.O.P.E. since it started. There was a display of photographs and press cuttings of the project and two paintings of the garden that were painted last year by trainees Ian and Wayne. Visitors were then invited to tour the garden, although the rain started to fall rather heavily at this stage.

BBQ
Everyone enjoyed a summer BBQ at Glasterlaw on 17th July. This was a thank you to the trainees, volunteers and staff for their wonderful support over the past 10 years. Many thanks are extended to John and Jane Shearer, who were our hosts for this event.

H.O.P.E. 10 Year Birthday Presents
H.O.P.E. had a marvellous response to our request for old and new tools to mark H.O.P.E.'s 10th birthday. From garden shed clear outs, sparkling new hand tool gift sets, cash and hardware store vouchers were received. Many thanks to so many for their generosity. One Arbroath lady donated a brand new cold frame and loads of plants from her impressive garden.

Balmoral Road Race
Trainee, Gerry from Montrose, took part in this year's race in May and raised enough money for two shiny new wheel-barrows.

Grand Plant Sale
Held on 15th May, this year's plant sale was a big success. The day was helped by good weather. The newly constructed BBQ was appreciated by both customers and volunteers. £875 was raised on the day. Sales before and since the event have been very good and we should equal last year's total of over £1,500. Plants are always available for sale on weekday afternoons between 2pm and 4pm.

Arbroath Probus Club
We were delighted to receive a cheque for £250 from the Arbroath Probus Club. This money will be spent on new vegetable boxes, which we have purchased from the Soil Association, and a new pair of scales.