On Tuesday 20 April a group of volunteers from our Edinburgh office took part in an orchard planting project at the Gilmerton Primary School.
The project was run by the Commonwealth Orchard and Scottish Business in the Community. The Commonwealth Orchard is a social enterprise whos vision is to link children, communities, businesses, and landowners to plant fruit trees across Scotland for a fruitful future. Part of the vision is also to support a self reliant and confident community who can continue looking after the orchard and enjoy the fruit for years to come. The orchards planted across Scotland will be a living network, fruiting in time for the 2014 games and for many years to come; they will be part of the legacy of the games. Orchards provide an important link to food provenance, healthy eating, and education about the environment.
Over the course of the day, our volunteers, along with some other volunteers from PwC and many of the school's children took part in a variety of activities (listed below) to ensure that the 27 tree orchard was planted successfully.
- marking out the orchard plan
- digging holes
- preparing the soil
- planting the fruit trees
- watering
- putting in stakes
- covering the newly dug soil with membrane
The children also enjoyed learning about the orchard, how it will develop and how they can help to ensure that it is successful
and enjoyed by others. The children also had fun using the apple press and apple peeler!!
The day was a wonderful success and the school can now enjoy the wonderful new orchard for years to come.
"Helping plant fruit trees for the Commonwealth Orchard scheme is a brilliant idea for a CSR day as at the end of the day you can really see the difference your hard work has made with the line of newly planted trees on the school field. Getting the kids involved in the planting was fun as they were really enthusiastic about the whole project." - Amy Niven, Solicitor, Dundas & Wilson
"I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent participating in the orchard planting at Gilmerton Primary School. It was nice change of scene to get outdoors for the day and it was all for a worthy cause." - Angela Russell, DTP Assistant, Dundas & Wilson
“The Gilmerton day was great – and for all the right reasons. The sun was shining, and everyone had a good time. We got a lot of trees planted – about 25 – and lots of the pupils from Gilmerton also got their hands dirty helping. The idea of the Commonwealth Orchard is that everyone helps to create an orchard – for everyone to benefit from - and I think in lots of ways this way a great day. The involvement of Dundas and Wilson also really helped to make this a success.” - John Hancox, Director of the Commonwealth Orchard