Sailors lend a hand

Ten Canadians put up a greenhouse for Redbraes Community Garden

Redbraes Community Garden got a much needed boost when ten Canadian sailors put up a new greenhouse funded by a Neighbourhood Partnership community grant.

When Canadian ship HMCS Athabaskan docked in Leith, it offered the opportunity for a cultural exchange between the visiting sailors and the people of Leith. In fact, it was crew members of the ship who were in touch with the Neighbourhood Office to see if they could get involved in the community.

Scott Peddle said: “Our time in Edinburgh has been brilliant. It’s beautiful, the city is friendly. Everywhere we go we like to get involved in the community.

“I’d rather do something like this than just sit around, and it’s a great way to meet people.”

“They did more in half a day than we could do in a month,” said Davy Thomson, chair of Redbraes Residents Association. “They were very friendly and hard workers.

They also expressed an interest in Scotland because many have family from here.”

Over the last ten years, Redbraes Residents Association has turned a patch of waste land into Redbraes community garden. So successful has it been that they even won the Edinburgh in Bloom award this year. “The idea of the garden is for folks who stay in flats to get to know each other, while sharing a space where they can grow vegetables, hold BBQs and just sit and relax,” said Davy.

During the sailors’ time in Edinburgh, Leith Sea Cadets were welcomed on board the HMCS, while four crew members were also given a behind the scenes tour of Hibernian Football Club and tickets to the Hibs v Kilmarnock football match.