The ng homes events revolved around the One Planet Picnic initiative run by the independent environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful as part of its Eco-Schools programme.

One Planet Picnics are designed to raise awareness of where our food comes from, how it is grown and how far it has to travel. The events also educate people on how to grow, find and taste delicious Scottish produce.

Active wellbeing officer for ng homes, Claire Alexander, said: “The One Planet Picnics have been a great success. We believe it’s important for different generations to have the opportunity to join together and these picnics let people have a taste of sustainable food and enjoy a great day outside with their families and communities.”

In North Glasgow picnics were held at Gourlay Street Sheltered Housing Complex in Springburn and Keppoch Campus in Possilpark. Sheltered housing residents from Kemp Street and Gourlay Street formed a gardening group and worked together in a community space throughout the summer with Lambhill Stables who provided gardening expertise.

During the growing period the group had a number of new tenants ‘popping in’ to see what they were doing and expressed an interest in future events.

The residents ran a One Planet Picnic with each person playing their part from harvesting the produce from the raised beds to washing the vegetables, peeling and chopping. Some other tenants also made dishes as contributions to the picnic.

Sheltered housing resident Jessie Wallace said: “I enjoyed having a wee talk with my friends and seeing people enjoy themselves.”

At Keppoch Campus the One Planet Picnic brought different generations, schools and cultures together through the use of the fantastic open space at the campus.

Keppoch Nursery Head Teacher Sandra Meighan, who helped with the event, said: “It was a brilliant day and it was great to see so many visitors at our One Planet Picnic.”

Over 30 children took part from Keppoch nursery, Stepping Stones, Broomlea School, Saracen Primary and St Theresa’s Primary with ages ranging from 3-12 years old.

Parents also came along from Stepping Stones nursery with many cultures represented including Poland, China, India, Scotland and Africa. To highlight the diversity of the group, native produce was also grown including Pak Choi and Chinese cabbage.

A number of partner organisations worked with ng homes to make the day a success including West of Scotland Regional Equality Council who carried out a recycling workshop, Love Food, Hate Waste, through the Wise Group who conducted a food waste quiz and Axis Health Hubs who carried out a cooking demonstration using the produce grown on the campus site. The children also took part in a successful litter pick around their campus on the day.

Different generations getting together in their local community to help each other is a strong theme in North Glasgow and there are further plans to encourage at least 50 older residents to volunteer to take part in community activity as part of ng homes’ Build, Bridge, Bond project which will see the residents support activities and work with young people.

@ng_homes