Shettleston Housing Association’s community partner, the Shettleston Community Growing Project, has been announced as National Winner of Cultivation Street 2017.

The brainchild of TV gardener and presenter David Domoney, the competition helps to promote and support community gardening and school garden projects, whilst inspiring people to take up gardening and grow their green skills.

David visited the Growing Project’s Eckford Street site last week to present the regional winner prize of £500 of National Gardening vouchers. However, to everyone’s surprise and delight he announced the project had, in fact, won top prize as national winner, handing over instead £10,000 of vouchers.

David praised the Growing Project’s achievements, saying: “Shettleston could not be more deserving of being crowned the Community Garden Winner for 2017. These folks have created something that epitomises everything a community garden should be. They have taken a discarded and poisoned piece of land and they have transformed it into something both beautiful and productive that benefits the whole community around them.”

The Shettleston Community Growing Project was set up six years ago with the help of Shettleston HA, and enables local people to grow fruit and vegetables and to promote healthy eating and lifestyles. Over the years, it has diversified to offer many different activities for the benefit of the community including, the Smelly Welly Club for children, projects with local schools and many different volunteering opportunities for adults.

The dedicated team of volunteers, past and present, have given up many hours to look after the Project’s community garden, wildlife garden and raised beds. It is thoroughly deserving of this latest accolade – well done to everybody.