Our Larkhall

Your Voice Matters !

Local people from all corners of the Larkhall community, including Ashgill, Netherburn and Dalserf, are being invited to share their views and vision for the future of the area, to help create a community plan including

The Larkhall Community Plan will set out proposals for the area’s development to ensure it grows as a thriving and vibrant place to live that meets the needs and reflects the priorities of its residents.

Over the last six months a number of community groups and voluntary organisations in the town have come together with the shared goal of improving services and facilities inthe town.  This Partnershipis keen to hear local people’sviews to ensure the plan is developed for local people with local people. 

Nancy Barr, Chair of Larkhall Community Growers (LCG), explains: “We’re creating a local community plan for the area that will map out how we want to improve and grow our community – what services we want to lobby for, what local projects we want to take forward and what funding will be needed to make it happen. The plan will also support local groups and organisations with grant funding evidence for applications in the future.

“This is our town, our neighbourhoods and our families who live here and we should be the people driving plans forward and making the decisions based on what matters most to us.

“We need the participation of local people to make this happen and that means involving people at the very start. Over the next 4weeks, we’re conducting a survey that gives local people the opportunity to have their say on a range of issues. We’re particularly keen to gather thoughts on new local sports and leisure facilities.”

To make the survey as accessible and inclusive as possible, local residents can share their views in a variety of ways, including on-line and face-to-face.

Views can be submitted electronically and printed surveys can be picked up and dropped off at the Lighthouse, Library, Community Centre and Leisure Centre. A series of ‘drop in events’ and visits to local groups is also planned.

Leaflets providing more information will shortly be dropping through letter-boxes and residents should also look out for postcards in the town’s main public venues.

Nancy added: “We’ve been encouraged by the interest and participation of local groups and people so far, but I would urge everyone – new residents, long-standing residents, young and old – to use their voice and help plant the seeds that will determine how our community will grow.”

For more information contact:

The Lighthouse, King Street Larkhall

Email   office@larkhallcommunitygrowers.com

Web site   www.larkhallcommunitygrowers.com

Fb Larkhall Community Plan

URL: The online survey can be accessed through this link – https://tinyurl.com/MYLARKHALL2019

You can pick up and hand in your paper copies at the allocated venues which have boxes provided so you can drop off your survey.

**********************************************************************

Virgin Media Volunteer Day

We were lucky enough to have a group from Virgin Media come along to help us in the garden. They achieved so much in one day. We would like to thank them all for coming along and helping us. It was greatly appreciated. This is the 2nd year they have chosen us. Here are a few pictures taken on the day.

Summer Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Teas will be served in Hareleeshill Community Garden every Thursday from 28th June until end of August. We hope to see you there. We will be set up at 1.30 and finish at 3pm. Would be great to see you there

Midsummer Afternoon Tea Event 

Thank you to all who attended our event and made it a huge success. We will have a total of the money raised for St Andrews hospice soon.

The Big Walk

Thank you Larkhall Community Growers for hosting#TheBigWalk today! It was a pleasure to see the community spirit surrounding this #NationalLotteryfunded project.

 

Co-op Community Fund

We received a cheque for £4385.43 from Larkhall Co-op’s community Fund. Thanks to all who voted for us to receive this money, it was very gratefully received.

 

Volunteer Day out Castlebank Park Lanark

The volunteers enjoyed a lovely day out to Castlebank Park. We had a tour of the grounds. Lovely to see on a crisp winters morning. We then had a lovely homemade bowl of soup and homemade roll courtesy of CCI in their community kitchen. Perfect end to a lovely morning.

 

Virgin Media Volunteer Day

Huge thank you to Virgin Media who allowed a team to come and help for the day. They were a huge help and achieved so much in one day. We look forward to having them back next year.

 

 

 

 

Afternoon tea in the Garden

We would like to thank everyone who managed to come along to our Afternoon Teas in the garden in July and August. We were very lucky with the weather. We had lots of produce for those who attended to take away and sample. Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers for there help too. Without them it would not be possible to put on such events.

Trip to Loch Lomond

On Saturday the 26th August a group of our volunteers went to Loch Lomond for the day. We had a beautiful 2 hour cruise round the Loch. The weather was lovely. Great company and beautiful scenery. What more could you ask for.

 

Trip to Auchlochan

We enjoyed a recent visit to the walled garden at Auchlochan, Lesmahagow. Great range of plants and colours. We are inspired! We have a few more trips to look forward to. The Ayr Flower show on the 19th August. Then off to the Bonny Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond on the 26th August.

 

Day Out to Gardening Scotland

A group of  volunteers and growers enjoyed a trip to Gardening Scotland on Saturday. We came back with lots of ideas and a few purchases! Thanks to LDVG for the hire of the minibus and to Bob for driving.

 

Volunteer Week

We took part in Volunteer week in conjunction with Vaslan. Here is a picture of a few of our volunteers getting into the pirate spirit on the day.

 

Open Day in May

Big thanks to everyone who helped make our Open Day a great success.

 

Art in the Garden project

Pretty pots decorating the border and an amazing bird bath. These were part of the Art in the Garden project involving artists and Larkhall Academy pupils, enabled by The Larkhall Professional Businessmens Club.

 

Machanhill Primary School Poly Tunnel

Here is a picture of the new poly tunnel recently erected by our volunteers at Machanhill primary School.  They done a great job and put lots of hard work into this project. Thank you to all who helped out, it was greatly appreciated.

 

 

Science Week visit from Machanhill Primary School

On Monday 6th March and Tuesday 7th March Machanhill Primary School came for a visit.  We had a great time taking part in the UK wide soil and worm survey. The children really enjoyed finding lots of worms. We measured them, tried to identify them and then returned them to the soil at the end of the session. We also check the ph in the soil. All the data will then be sent away and checked compared to the rest of the UK. Here are some pictures from the visit.

 

Larky Mashers

Well done to the Larky Mashers in raising a total of £3080 for their designated charities. We here at LCG would like to say a huge ‘Thank you’ to them for their kind donation to our funds of £770 and for the very nice presentation. It was great to meet you and we wish you all the best for your next fundraising venture.

 

Easy Fundraising

Do you shop online? Do it through easyfundraising.org.uk and raise a free donation for Larkhall Community Growers every time you shop! https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/larkhallcomgrow/

easyfundraising-Reminder-A4-Poster

In 2016 we managed to raise £80 through easy fundraising. Thank you to everyone involved. Would be fantastic if we could beat that in 2017.

 

Raised Beds

We have a few raised beds that are available for people within the Hareleeshill area to rent and grow your own vegetables. If this is of interest to you then please give us a call at the office on 01698 888197. No need to have experience in growing as help is available.

 

Food Saftey Course

Well done to our 7 volunteers who completed their level 1 food saftey award. i’m sure a photo will follow when our certifictaes arrive. a big thank you to Peter for delivering the course so well!

 

 

Larky Mashers

We would like to say a huge thanks to the Larky Mashers for choosing us as one of the charity’s that the funds raised from their calendar sale will be given to this year. We are looking forward to meeting with them to receive the donation very soon.

 

 

Volunteer Friendly

We received our Volunteer Friendly award on Friday at Vaslan’s AGM. Below is a picture of it being accepted by Staff and Volunteers. Volunteer Friendly is a quality standard that supports, recognizes and rewards groups who are good at involving volunteers and we want to be an organisation that value and acknowledge the time and effort our volunteers dedicate to us.

 

 

 

5th Year Anniversary and Volunteer Celebration

Huge thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate both LCG’s 5th anniversary and our amazing hard working volunteers. Great to catch up with old friends and new. Below are a few picture of the evening.

Champion Grower

Popped up the garden today to find I was in the company of a Champion Grower. Well done to Margaret Sheridan one of our growers who won lots of 1st. 2nd 3rd’s and Champion Grower at the weekend at the Scottish Small Holder and Grower Festival.

Afternoon Tea

Over the summer during July and August we held afternoon tea in the garden. We would like to thank the volunteers who provided this service. Through the time and effort put in by our volunteers many people in the area got a chance to socialise over a cuppa and a cake in beautiful surroundings.

Kids Garden Fun Club

Over the summer we ran a gardening club for the children from the surrounding area. We had lots of fun making instruments, painting, creating a tyre garden, playing games and lots more. Have a look at a few of the photo’s below and on our gallery page.

 

New Activities and Opportunities

 

Saltire Awards

Congratulations to Rachel O’Brien one of our volunteers on gaining her Ascent Saltire Award for completing 50 hours of volunteer work. We are delighted to have you as part of our team.

 

DALSERF SCHOOL POEMS –

We recently invited local schools to enter into a poetry competition to capture the sights and sounds of Larkhall in poetry. The contributions were wonderful and we are grateful to all the young poets in Larkhall who gave their time to write about our community.

On Thursday 4th June, Susan Taylor and Jamie McGeechan from LCG went along to Dalserf Primary School to record some of the pupils poems.

You can hear the wonderful poetry HERE 

 

Pallet Garden Competition

Well done to the all the people who worked on our Pallet Garden entry which won a silver medal at Gardening Scotland. We had a great day out at Gardening Scotland on Saturday with volunteers and growers. Have a look at some of what we got up to.

             

 

Open Day

We held our annual open day on Saturday the 6th June in conjunction with Volunteer Week. Although the day was a bit damp that did not dampen our spirits. Fiona Dryburgh from Vaslan with the help of Jon right planted and dedicated a rose bush which has been named especially to remember all the hard work and many hours that volunteers give in our area. Our volunteers worked hard in the lead up to our open day preparing bedding plant and hanging basket for selling on the day and thanks to all their hard work we raised just over £700.00. We had our usual BBQ which was enjoyed by all who attended. It was great to see everyone using our new event poly tunnel to shelter from the wind and rain, this donation has definitely been put to good use.

Our Larkhall

The Our Larkhall event was a resounding success with over 1000 people from the local community in attendance over the day for a feast of live music, dancing, story telling, puppet show, artwork and exhibitors from over 40 community organisations. The event was a real testament to the spirit of the people of Larkhall and our unique culture and history.

We would like to thank the Baptist Church, Universal Connection the Local Art Group, The Church At The Cross and the Leisure Centre for the use of their equipment on the day. We would also like to give a special thanks to Alan, Craig, Chris, Jonathon and Connor for sound and stage management. A huge thanks to all the volunteers who helped to make the day a success. Thanks also to the wonderful folks from the Coalyard who helped to feed us all.  A grateful thanks to Iceland, Scotmid and Practitioners group for there financial contribution. To all the exhibitors and performers who made the day a tremendous success. You will find photo’s of the day on our gallery page, please take time to have a look.

 

 

Larkhall Area Tenant’s and Residents Association

This group represents every person in our town and they are there to help with any housing issues you may have. Find there stall at the Our Larkhall Event!

School Orchard Project

In collaboration with Clyde and Avon Valley Partnership Trust and Central Scotland Green Network Trust we have been working with Primary School’s in the Larkhall area. We have visited each of the involved schools  three times first to plan second to plant and thirdly to help with maintenance of the orchard in their premises. Each school received 5 trees which they planted and this qualifies them as having an orchard. Please visit our gallery to see some photos of the project.

Season’s in the Garden Art Project

Thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers who gave their time and talents to create 5 beautiful panels which depict the seasons in the garden. These are now on display in the garden and have already proved to be a great resource for explaining what happens in each season to many garden users including local nursery’s and schools.

Newsletter for 2015! : ( click below )
Larkhall Community Growers Newsletter dec 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Funded by Asda Carrier Bag Community Grants administered by Foundation Scotland’