A PEEBLES community group is holding an open day this weekend to celebrate securing £90,000 to launch a new scheme.

Peebles CAN (Community Action Network) is celebrating the completion of work at its community garden and is throwing open its doors to the public to attend at a yurt open day, which coincides with the launch of a new Grow, Cook, Build, Own (GCBO) project.

From 10am until midday tomorrow (Saturday, April 22), the community garden, located behind the Victoria Park Centre, on Kingsmeadow Road, will hold garden tours for visitors.

They will also offer food and drinks with music supplied by Nomad Beat.
The group hopes to promote a healthy lifestyle through encouraging outdoor activity, socialising and learning about growing vegetables in Scotland.

Following our report in the Peeblesshire News last week, the attack by vandals to the newly installed yurt hasn’t put off organisers from hosting the event.

Nichole Easton from Peebles CAN said: “Many thanks to the local community who came to our rescue following the vandalism at the garden.

“We’ve tidied up the mess and are looking forward to officially opening the new yurt and launching our new Grow, Cook, Build, Own project.

“This month, we secured £90,000 of funding from the CCF (Climate Challenge Fund) to run a new project, Grow, Cook, Build, Own. This will create seven new jobs, and local campaigns which aim to reduce 35 tonnes of carbon.

“The project will be running a community-wide food waste reduction campaign, Compost Me, and working on a monthly basis with Kingsland School, and uniformed groups such as scouts and brownies. 

“This will provide learning opportunities for all ages to gain confidence in composting, and growing activities.”

A central part of the GCBO project focuses on the group’s commitment to work closely with 20 households to take on their own plot within the community garden for one year. 

Dedicated mentors will support participants to attend two weekly sessions, to offer advice on how to grow and cook with seasonal produce they grow themselves. 

This will incorporate a monitoring and measuring element to help participants understand and track how household initiatives impact on carbon emission reductions.

For more information, visit: http://www.peeblescan.org