Beautiful Perth's RHS Britain in Bloom 2019 Portfolio

PORTFOLIO 2019

2-3: About Perth

4-5: About Beautiful Perth

6-7: Review of our Year

8-15: Horticulture

16-21: Environment

22-27: Community

28-29: Facts, figures & future plans

30: Conclusion

Annex 1: Financial statement

2019

N O I P M A H C NS OF CHAMPIO

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ABOUT PERTH HISTORY Perth (ancient name St John’s Toun) lies on the River Tay at the highest point to which seagoing vessels can navigate, and the lowest bridging point, so it was always an ideal place for settlement and trade. There is evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman settlement in and around the area. Scottish Kings were crowned at Scone (on the ‘Stone of Destiny’) from the 10th century or earlier, and there were at least four monastic institutions in Perth in medieval times.

GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Situated on the River

Tay

Location: 56.397°N 3.4

37°W

Climate: Met Office sta ts (SE England figures in brac

kets for comparison)

Annual average max te mp in degrees centigr ade: 12.8 (14.0) Annual average min te

mp: 5.1 (8.1)

Annual average hours

of sunshine: 1351.2 (1

871.4)

Annual average rainfall

, mm: 811.3 (751.3)

Soils: largely rich, alluv

ial

ECONOMY Today, Perth remains a vital hub in Scotland’s transport networks. Four main bridges carry motorway, road and rail traffic to all points of the compass, and the busy harbour handles cargoes to and from the UK, the Baltic, Scandinavia and mainland Europe. Several multi-national companies have their HQs here, including Stagecoach Group, SSE and Aviva. The rich farmland of the Perth & Kinross area is another pillar of the local economy. As well as highly productive arable and livestock farms, the area is famed for its delicious soft fruits, including strawberries, raspberries and the locally bred Tayberry. Many farms run their own soft fruit shops and cafes.

Arriving in Perth by boat.

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FLOODING Significant floods have been recorded throughout the history of Perth – there were at least 34 events between the years 1210 and 1993. Bridges were destroyed several times, including in 1210 and 1648. There was a devastating flood in 1993 when the Tay rose 6.4m above normal levels; 750 homes were inundated and many businesses badly damaged. As a result, major flood defence works got underway. The defences were severely tested in December 2015, but they held fast. The present-day flood defences incorporate some spectacular works of public art, including these flood gates seen in action in 2015.

TOURISM, CULTURE & OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES Perth’s location makes it popular with visitors seeking to enjoy the cultural, historic and natural heritage attractions Scotland has to offer. This supports many local businesses – as well as hotels, B&Bs and guest houses, restaurants and coffee shops, many local shops and businesses cater for outdoor activities such as hillwalking, canoeing, angling, mountaineering, cycling, running, skiing, snowboarding and sailing.

Perth is a thriving community that is putting public events at the heart of its strategy for maintaining a healthy city centre. Cultural highlights include Perth Theatre, Perth Concert Hall, Perth Museum & Art Gallery, the Fergusson Gallery and the Perth Public Art Trail. Perth’s annual Festival of the Arts is held in May. The City also hosts more than 73 public events, including the Scottish Game Fair, Perth Highland Games and street markets. Public events such as the Christmas Lights Switch On, Riverside Night Lights, Fireworks displays on the Tay and Classic Car Rallies can bring many thousands of people into the centre of the City.

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ABOUT US CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNING COMMITTEE

Beautiful Perth is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Our Constitution was revised this year and approved by the Regulator in April. We are run entirely by volunteers so we incur no staff or office accommodation costs. Our governing committee of voluntary Trustees meets 10 times a year to review priorities, plan ahead, monitor progress, oversee finances and ensure good governance.

We began as an anti-litter campaign, in response to some very negative publicity about the City. We became Perth in Bloom a year later, but changed our name to Beautiful Perth in 2007 to reflect our wider remit, which includes the three ‘pillars’ of the RHS Britain in Bloom campaign: horticulture, environment and community.

Our current Committee of Trustees includes people with experience and expertise in horticulture, environmental issues, communications, local government, education, transport and the local hospitality industry:

OUR VISION IS...

‘To make Perth a beautiful place to live, work and visit’

• • • • • • • • • • • •

CHARITABLE STATUS We are a registered charity, number SC 032395, regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.

Our charitable purposes are: • To improve the local environment & quality of life • To support environmental education & lifelong learning • To advance community development through public participation

POLICIES & PROCEDURES To ensure safe systems of working, we have policies in place covering Health & Safety, the Protection of Children & Vulnerable Adults, Equal Opportunities, Intergenerational Working, Privacy, Volunteering, the Environment and Plastics.

VOLUNTEERS

o about 25 volunteers wh We have a core group of o als r activity sessions. We turn out regularly for ou er of volunteers from partn benefit from a wide range City. See the Community organisations across the ). more details (pages 22-26 Participation section for do ‘background’ work, for Several other volunteers Chartered nt Financial Examiner, a instance our Independe accounts, with preparation of our Accountant who assists ers professional photograph and several amateur and us. who donate pictures to Volunteers celebrating

John Summers, Chairman Jenny Williams, Vice Chair Elspeth Bruce, Secretary Monica Straughan, Treasurer Brian Cunningham Fiona Hair Graham Harbut Tracey Hutton Tom Lowdon Barbara McDonald Alison Morrison Sylvia Stuart

our 2018 successes.

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FUNDING

SUCCESSES OVER THE YEARS

Our Annual Accounts are independently examined, submitted to the Regulator after our AGMs, and published on our website. A summary of our financial statement for 2018-19 can be found at page 31.

Since 1990, we have won Beautiful Scotland Awards in 20 annual competitions, Britain in Bloom Awards in 13 competitions, and various other national and international Awards on six occasions.

Our funding comes from a range of sources. We have a three-year Financial Strategy and robust purchasing procedures in place to ensure sound financial management. As well as general fundraising and donations, we have sponsors who support the planting and maintenance of beds, containers and baskets in Perth. We also have an annual allocation within Perth & Kinross Council’s Greenspace budget and we seek grant funding for specific projects.

We run our own Beautiful Perth Awards schemes most years (page 24). These enhance the local environment, generate interest in our work, and celebrate the efforts of local residents, schools, community groups and businesses who help make Perth beautiful.

We have delivered a wide range of environmental improvement projects over the years. This includes drystone walling at St Magdelene’s Hill woodland walk, a cairn ‘bug hotel’ in the Oakbank area, a wildlife pond on the North Inch, and the ‘Thistle Bed’ on the North Inch, originally created to celebrate our 20th anniversary 10 years ago.

Perth & Kinross Council teams provide us with a great deal of very valuable support. Our main relationships are with its Community Greenspace team, with Westbank Nursery and with Waste Services. However, we also work regularly with Criminal Justice (Community Payback), Dog Control, Operations (Grounds Maintenance), Parking Services, Regeneration, Roads and Street Lighting teams.

We are also fortunate to have signed up a new Trustee this year – Brian Cunningham (pictured below) who, as well as his day job as Head Gardener at Scone Palace, is also a presenter on BBC Scotland’s popular Beechgrove Garden programme.

MEDIA COVERAGE We get tremendous support from the media. The Perthshire Advertiser is running a weekly feature about our work from April to July this year, promoting our local awards scheme.

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OUR YEAR – JULY 700+ hanging baskets blooming in the City centre.

Volunteers working at the City of Perth Early Childhood Centre.

AUGUST Our sponsored beds looking their very best.

Volunteers maintaining displays in the Oakbank residential area of Perth.

SEPTEMBER Our ‘adopted’ beds in Rodney Gardens.

Volunteers at work in the Heather Collection.

OCTOBER Britain in Bloom celebrations.

Helping out at a community action day along Perth Lade.

NOVEMBER ‘Blue Tay’ kayak litter-pick.

Volunteer session clearing summer bedding at St Leonard’s Church.

DECEMBER Revised website being designed.

Volunteer session at Carpenter Court sheltered housing.

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July 2018 to June 2019 JANUARY Opening of Zero Waste Walk-In shop.

Housekeeping duties – shed tidy and stocktake.

FEBRUARY ‘Stop the Plastic Tide’ public talk.

St Catherine’s retail park litter-pick.

MARCH Crocuses on the South Inch.

Collecting spring tubs from Turning Point Perth for Bridgend shops.

APRIL Launch of our local Awards scheme.

Preparing raised beds at Perth High School.

MAY Volunteers’ pollinator training at Scottish Natural Heritage HQ. Visit to Riverside by The Compassionate Friends.

JUNE Beaver Scouts’ evening litter-picks.

Working with pupils at Kinnoull Primary School.

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HORTICULTURE: AK Bell library

Sponsor bed with annually themed display*

Barrack Street

Sponsor bed Beautiful Perth flags & banners

Balhousie Castle

(Black Watch Museum) – containers

Bridgend

Back Wynd shrubbery, Camilla Bell junction raised bed, planters on Main Street*

Caledonian Road Railing baskets

Cherrybank corner

Containers with spring/summer planting*

City of Perth Early Learning Centre

Garden (in area of high income/employment deprivation)

Concert Hall Plaza

Parklets, railing baskets, containers*

Craigie Crossroads Containers

Curfew Row

Shrubbery and bug hotel*

Dundee Road/Queen’s Bridge

Raised beds with sustainable planting*

Dewar’s Corner

Sponsor bed with sustainable planting & annuals*

Fair Maid’s House

Planters and courtyard garden*

Friarton Recycling Centre ‘Web Walk’ planting*

Gleanearn Road

Sponsor bed with sustainable planting & annuals*

Gleneagles Road

Crocuses with Beautiful Perth banners* -8-

OUR HORTI SITES High Street Planters

Kinnoull Primary School

Front garden*

Needless Road

Sponsor bed with Beautiful Perth flags & banners*

North Inch Thistle Bed

Sustainable planting and spring/summer annuals*

Oakbank Community Centre

Front garden

Oakbank junction

Tiered containers

Oakbank Place

Sponsor bed with sustainable planting, bug hotel, daffodils

Perth High School

Produce plots*

Perth Leisure Pool

Annual display with local schools*

Perth Station

Hanging baskets, platform containers and Station Garden Club’s Biodiversity garden*

Riverside Park See pages 9-10**

Rosslyn House

Sponsor bed with Beautiful Perth flags & banners*

St Leonard’s in the Fields church

Spring & summer displays

Skinnergate

Salvation Army hostel planters & baskets

Tulloch housing estate (Ladeside)

Spring bulbs

Key - * denotes site is on judges’ tour route ** denotes final stop on judges’ tour -9-

HORTICULTURE: Riverside Park is on the eastern bank of the River Tay in the heart of Perth. This popular public park forms part of a circular walk around the city centre and includes a number of installations in the Perth Public Art trail. Beautiful Perth volunteers regularly work in two areas of the park – Rodney Gardens and Bellwood, where the heather collection, spring bulb displays, the historic Kinnoull burial ground and the Compassionate Friends garden are located. One of Scotland’s most significant plants nurseries was established here in 1767.

HEATHER COLLECTION

Rodney Gardens.

Creation of the collection began in 2011 as a partnership with the Council, and Beautiful Perth began working here in 2012. Our volunteers have planted over 16,000 heathers, aiming to include more than 500 varieties in the 15 heather beds. Selected forms of species such as Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea, Erica ciliaris, Erica vagans and Daboecia cantabrica, along with some hybrids, can be seen at Riverside. Our volunteers do all the maintenance at the beds, we have produced a leaflet about the collection, and we receive valuable help and advice from the international Heather Society.

COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS GARDEN This contemplative garden has been developed by Beautiful Perth volunteers in partnership with the Compassionate Friends, a group that provides support for bereaved parents and families. Bordered by one of the heather beds, it includes native and pollinator plants, spring bulbs and several specimen trees, as well as a memorial bench installed last year by Beautiful Perth, the Council and the Compassionate Friends.

RODNEY GARDENS Rodney Gardens is a formally designed area in front of the Rodney Pavilion and is managed by the Council.

Beautiful Perth has adopted several of the beds in the Gardens. In 2016, we gained funding from the Gannochy Trust, and our volunteers worked under the guidance of three professional horticulturalists to lift plants, saving as many as possible to be split and grown on in the Westbank Nursery. Since then, we have replanted the beds, sticking as closely as possible to the original design.

The beds are now filling out nicely, providing attractive and pollinator-friendly displays.

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RIVERSIDE PARK KINNOULL BURIAL GROUND This historic burial ground dates back at least to the 16th century. Many of the ferrymen who transported people across the Tay are buried there, as is Effie Gray, wife of Victorian Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir John Everett Millais. Of particular interest to Beautiful Perth are the graves of Archibald Turnbull and William Dickson, whose nationally significant, 60-acre nursery was located in Bellwood. The nursery developed the first double scotch roses, which were transplanted from wild roses found on nearby Kinnoull Hill. This year, we have planted 9 of these roses at their graves as a tribute to their work and the horticultural heritage they have bequeathed us.

SPRING BULBS In 2017, a developer got permission to work on the site of a former market garden a mile downstream from Bellwood, and Beautiful Perth got permission to uplift heritage bulbs that would have been lost. Over the past two years, our volunteers have uplifted more than 3,000 daffodils and 10,000 snowdrops, and these have been transplanted along the riverbanks in Bellwood. The first snowdrops were planted in 2018 ‘in the green’ to form part of a ‘Peace Trail’ that commemorates the fallen of the First World War.

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HORTICULTURE: THE INCHES Perth is sometimes jokingly called the world’s smallest city, because it is situated between two inches! In fact, the term ‘Inch’ derives from the Gaelic for island or meadow. Perth’s historic North and South Inches are large and very popular public parks that lie on the western bank of the Tay, flanking the main shopping and cultural areas of the City. Both Inches are used for recreation, sporting and other outdoor events, and bloom with colour every spring with spectacular displays of crocuses and daffodils. The North Inch also has a lovely circular seating area with feature stone walls and pollinatorfriendly beds of lavenders. The Beautiful Perth ‘Thistle’ bed includes spring and summer bedding, sustainable planting and a large thistle sculpture created to mark our 20th anniversary 10 years ago.

CULTURAL QUARTER Mill Street in the City centre includes the Playhouse multi-screen cinema, Perth Theatre, Perth Concert Hall and Perth Museum and Art Gallery, as well a hotel and independent shops and restaurants. The area has undergone major refurbishment over the past two years and is now a horticultural delight, with hanging baskets, planters and spectacular railing baskets. The Council has also recently installed a set of ‘parklets’ (above) outside the Concert Hall. These are being planted up to provide public seating and even more colourful, pollinator-friendly displays this summer.

NATIONAL COLLECTIONS Perth is home to several National Plant Collections, including Mylnefield Lilies at Mrs Madeleine Tilson’s Parkhead Garden. The National Trust for Scotland’s Branklyn Garden holds collections of Meconopsis and Cassiope.

ALLOTMENTS There are 10 allotment groups or community gardens in Perth. This includes allotment sites at Pitheavlis Garden, Moncreiffe Island, Muirton Park and North Perth. The Letham Climate Change project has two allotment sites in Perth, and the New Rannoch Day Centre for older adults has a small, dementia-friendly garden. Mental Health campaigning charity PLUS Perth has a community garden at Horner’s Plot in the city centre, and the Walled Garden at Murray Royal Hospital is partly staffed by people with mental health issues. There is an organic community garden in South Perth and a community farm on Jeanfield Road. The Council supports the formation of new groups, offers useful advice and can lease land to groups.

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PARKS AND PUBLIC SPACES SPONSOR BEDS Beautiful Perth has sponsors for public displays across the City:

AK Bell Library, sponsored by Holiday Inn Express.

Barrack Street, sponsored by Live Active Leisure.

Dewar’s Corner, sponsored by Morris Leslie Motor Auctions.

Glenearn Road, sponsored by the Perthshire Advertiser and Curves Gym.

Needless Road, sponsored by St Johnstone FC and Earnside Energy.

Rosslyn House, sponsored by the Kilmac construction company.

Perth Station hanging baskets, sponsored by Abelio Scotrail.

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St Leonard’s in the Fields church, sponsored by the congregation.

HORTICULTURE: WESTBANK NURSERY

BUSINESS HANGING BASKETS

Beautiful Perth works closely with Perth & Kinross Council (PKC) at the Westbank Nursery. We contribute to the cost of plants for Perth displays from our Council allowance.

The Nursery provides plants and shrubs for the beds, containers and other displays across the county.

HORTICULTURAL APPRENTICES In an exciting development in 2018, the Council took on three horticultural Modern Apprentices, who are based at the nursery and are learning their craft from its two experienced horticulturalists. The Apprentices are in the process of refreshing several Beautiful Perth sponsor beds, including the one at the junction of Glasgow Road and Needless Road. We have warmly welcomed this development as a means of securing horticultural expertise in our city for the future.

The Council runs the Perth & Kinross Business Hanging Baskets scheme, under which local businesses can hire baskets for their premises for the summer months.

Baskets are delivered by the Westbank Nursery, but watering baskets is always a challenge. Self-watering systems are increasingly being used, and the Council’s Criminal Justice team also helps by providing a watering service delivered by people serving Community Payback Orders.

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PARTNERSHIP WITH PKC CITY CENTRE Over 700 hanging baskets adorn the City centre each summer. Many are provided to businesses under the Business Hanging Baskets scheme, and the Council itself provides baskets on lampposts and poles. It provides railings baskets at Barrack Street, Caledonian Road and on Queen’s Bridge, as well as planting sustainable displays in beds and containers along Tay Street and the new ‘parklets’ in the Cultural Quarter.

RIVERSIDE PARK As well as supporting Beautiful Perth’s work in the Rodney Gardens and Bellwood areas of Riverside Park, the Council’s Community Greenspace team itself manages the Knot Garden in Rodney Gardens and the grounds of Norie Miller Walk. The Knot Garden has been undergoing refurbishment for the past 18 months, to restore the hedges and refresh the sustainable planting.

Norie Miller Walk has a very specific set of challenges when it comes to grounds management. From the end of January through to March, a series of ‘Riverside Light Nights’ events are held, attracting thousands of people to the park every evening. The high footfall in these winter months means a great deal of restoration work for the Operations team, but they succeed each year in bringing the grass and the paths back to their former glory.

Norie Miller Walk.

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ENVIRONMENT: HERITAGE

This section demonstrates how we address Britain in Bloom judging category B1 Local identity: ‘A sense of place, heritage, art in the landscape, signage and interpretation.’

THE RIVER TAY Perth is here because of the River Tay, which has the greatest flow of all UK rivers (it can exceed the combined flows of the Thames and the Severn). Perth grew up on the banks of the Tay from prehistoric times and we are very proud of its history, its ecology and the many cultural and economic benefits it continues to bring to Perth.

However, the powerful waters have brought challenges as well as opportunities. Flooding has made our alluvial soils rich and productive, but it has also endangered lives, washed away bridges and caused major destruction over the centuries. In 1993 large areas of Perth were inundated, causing millions of pounds worth of damage.

But from that disaster grew another of the features of Perth that makes us proud – the city’s flood defences.

They were constructed using a combination of soft and hard engineering solutions. There are 10km of embankments that provide riparian habitats, and our public parks, the North and South Inches, act as floodwater mitigation areas. The hard-engineered sections in the city centre include a pumping station, flood walls and flood gates, but these incorporate striking works of art on or within their structures, and interpretive panels that tell the story of Perth and its relationship with the Tay.

Perth has a long, rich and sometimes dramatic history that informs our civic pride to this day. It has even been recreated in cake at recent events in the City centre!

Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Fair Maid of Perth inspired Perth’s nickname ‘The Fair City’, which we locals still use with great pride. A statue of Sir Walter (and his dog) stands on the South Inch and oversees many of our volunteer activities. The Fair Maid herself (above) is immortalised in bronze on the High Street.

The North Inch is home to one of the world’s oldest golf courses, where the game has been played for over 500 years. James IV of Scotland’s first recorded purchase of golf clubs was made in 1502: Item: the 21st September – to the bow-maker of Saint John’s Town (Perth), for golf clubs, 14 shillings A cairn on the North Inch, near the Beautiful Perth Thistle sculpture, marks the site of a great ‘battle of the clans’ fought in 1396 to settle a feud between two clan chiefs.

King Charles 1 visited the City in 1633, after his coronation but before he lost his head! A platform was floated on the Tay and a sword dance performed for the royal visitor.

This occasion is commemorated in one of the alcoves built into the flood defence wall on Tay Street.

Art in the flood wall.

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PRIDE IN OUR PLACE HORTICULTURAL HERITAGE Nurseries established in the 18th century had a notable clientele, including the then Duke of York, who sourced trees for Windsor Great Park. These nurseries were also the first to distribute a Scottish favourite, the Swedish turnip – still a key ingredient of one of our national dishes, haggis, neeps and tatties! Turnip seeds were sent to the nurseries in 1772 by the great botanist and ‘father of taxonomy’ Carl Linnaeus, who created the binomial system of classification that is still used today.

One of Beautiful Perth’s current projects is production of a history of the nurseries in Perth. Older people in the City are contributing their recollections of former nurseries, plant suppliers, parks, allotments and other ’horti’ memories.

PUBLIC ART TRAIL Twenty-five thought–provoking sculptures form Perth’s public art trail, which runs from the High Street over Perth Bridge, through Riverside Park, over the railway bridge and along Tay Street. The installations draw inspiration from the river and its wildlife, the city, its history, its poets and its life.

Interpretation board on Tay Street.

Art and interpretation.

Artful seating at Norie Miller Walk.

Soutar’s menagerie, Tay Street.

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ENVIRONMENT: WILDFLOWERS AND HABITATS

This section covers Britain in Bloom judging criteria B2 Biodiversity, protection & conservation of the natural environment and wildlife habitat: ‘Provision of wildflower areas, aquatic conservation sites, bat & bird boxes, insect hotels.’

We are actively managing Kinnoull Burial Ground and the Heather Collection areas for wildlife, and some exciting finds have been made in the ‘Secret Garden’ at Perth Station. There are beehives in urban sites, such as on the roof of Perth Concert Hall, at the Westbank Nursery and in the grounds of Aviva’s HQ. The Heather Collection in Riverside Park is excellent for pollinators, supporting butterflies, bees and a wide range of other insects.

BIODIVERSITY The Scottish Government agency Scottish Natural Heritage has published The Pollinator Strategy for Scotland 20172027. In May, our volunteers visited its offices at Battleby, near Perth, for an information and training session. They enjoyed a talk and a tour of Battleby’s grounds, which are managed for biodiversity, and came away fired up with practical ideas for doing even more for biodiversity and pollinators in our urban environment.

The public beds and containers across the City are mainly planted with herbaceous, native and other plants that support a wide range of species throughout the year.

We have planted pollinators, such as Narcissi and other heritage daffodils to extend the pollination season.

We have hosted butterfly identification workshops for our volunteers, and one volunteer has registered as a Recorder for a biodiversity transect in the North Muirton housing estate.

Beehives by the heathers

The North and South Inches are managed for biodiversity as well as amenity, with a pond on the South Inch and wildflower ‘set aside’ strips around the peripheries. On the North Inch, the Council’s Greenspace Rangers have recorded many wildflowers, including Meadow buttercup, Eyebright and Greater Knapweed, which are attracting a wide range of wildlife, including the orange tip butterfly and the common carder bee.

Perth’s woodland hill parks, Kinnoull, Moncreiffe and Corsie, are managed as productive woodlands as well as for their biodiversity, and all have very popular networks of public footpaths. The Kinnoull Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest (below) covers 72.8 hectares and its key habitats are oak and birch woodland, with lowland heathland. There are remnant patches of open heathland with heathers, and over 60 types of lichen have been recorded on the Hill. Its rocky slopes of andesite (a black volcanic rock) create a habitat that is of particular botanical interest. The hills support many native species including the endangered red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris.

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OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AQUATIC HABITATS

BIRD AND BAT BOXES

Ponds on the North and South Inches support a wide range of aquatic plant species, which provide nesting sites for birds such as swans, coots, mallards and moorhens.

Along Perth Lade, which runs through some of the most urbanised areas of the City, herons and kingfishers are often seen by the public.

Some 149 small bird boxes and 111 bat boxes have recently been installed within Perth by Beautiful Perth volunteers, Greenspace Rangers and other groups in sites right across the City. This photograph was taken by one of our volunteers at Riverside Park.

The Tay itself is protected under a wide range of national and international legislation protecting freshwater fish, drinking water, species and habitats.

Protected species include Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, Otter Lutra lutra, Lamprey Lampetra fluviatilis, Brook Lamprey Lampetra planeri and Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus. Otters are often spotted in the river in the centre of Perth, and beavers have been re-introduced to the Tay further upstream.

Bugs hotels of various shapes and sizes can be found at Beautiful Perth sites such as Oakbank Place, Curfew Row and Perth Station Garden.

Some new buildings in the City have had swift boxes (below) installed during construction and these appear to be well used by their feathered residents.

Otter spotted in the centre of Perth.

Coot family on the South Inch Pond.

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ENVIRONMENT: This section deals with Britain in Bloom judging criteria B3 Hard surfaces and open areas, including streets & open spaces: ‘Cleanliness, absence of litter, graffiti, vandalism, flyposting and chewing gum, water conservation and recycling initiatives, hard landscape, open spaces and street furniture maintenance, effective dog fouling measures.’

THE DAVE PROJECT

The Development and Visual Enhancement (DAVE) Project is a partnership of Beautiful Perth, Perth City Centre Management Team and the Council. The Project provides a vehicle, specialist cleaning materials, paint and Personal Protective Equipment so squads (including people on Community Payback Orders) can remove graffiti and discarded chewing gum from the streets of our City. It won funding from the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ scheme and from the Community Safety Partnership, and is having a very positive impact on the City centre.

RECYCLING Households in Perth & Kinross receive bins for recyclates, food and garden waste, and a smaller bin for general waste. There are recycling centres at two locations in Perth and numerous recycling points across the City.

National waste data published for Scotland in 2017 showed that Perth & Kinross recycled 55.6% of its waste, and diverted a further 6.3% from landfill, giving a total of 61.9% – one of the highest rates in Scotland.

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OUR URBAN ENVIRONMENT ZERO WASTE PERTH

LITTER, FLYPOSTING AND DOG FOULING

Beautiful Perth is leading the consortium that is delivering the Zero Waste Perth campaign. This exciting project is being funded by Zero Waste Scotland and the European Regional Development Fund, with up to £300,000 for the three years 2017-20. This funding is enabling the project to engage Perth communities, especially in areas of income and employment deprivation, who are learning skills and techniques for reducing waste and food waste, upcycling materials, re-using and repairing items. Local businesses are also involved in initiatives to become more resource efficient and to promote the circular economy.

Perth & Kinross Council implements an Action Plan for flyposting and dog fouling, and its Litter Action Plan 20152020, specifies actions for litter and flytipping through information and awareness, infrastructure, enforcement and partnership working. As part of this, Beautiful Perth volunteers and Perth & Kinross Council organise litterpicks on a regular basis, often with community groups and other partners.

Beautiful Perth and Beaver Scouts from the 10th Perthshire Scouts litter-picking in Viewpoint Park

Workshops, talks, training sessions, seminars and outdoor activities have been, and continue to be held at locations across the City. A Zero Waste Walk-In shop has been opened in the busy St John’s Centre shopping mall, and a ‘Zero Waste Space’ has recently been opened on the High Street. Located within the premises of the Bike Station social enterprise, the Space is a vital new community resource, available to all.

Street furniture, Mill Street

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A ‘Blue Tay’ kayak litter-pick paddle

COMMUNITY: PARTNERSHIPS FOR PERTH

This section demonstrates how we are delivering Britain in Bloom judging criteria C1 Year-round activity and future commitment: ‘Evidence of forward planning and year-round activity, adding value, highlighting events that make this entry unique and demonstrate present strengths.’

Partnerships are the key to our success. Partners (we had 57 at the last count) add value to our work and we to theirs, which adds up to a lot of added value for our Fair City. This is our greatest present (and future) strength.

FORWARD PLANNING Our Trustees review short-term plans and agree the schedule for weekly volunteer sessions at the monthly committee meetings. Longer-term planning takes place during the winter months, with annual priorities informing our three-year financial plan and forward action plans. Our overarching strategic priorities are to develop as wide a range of active partnerships as possible across Perth, and to deploy our available funds for the public benefit.

Committee forward planning session.

On 8 May 2019 the Scottish Government announced the introduction of a deposit and return scheme for drinks containers made of plastic, glass, aluminium and steel. The deposit has been set at 20p, and all shops selling the drinks will offer the deposit refunds to customers. Our Zero Waste shop in Perth has been demonstrating one of the deposit and return machines for the past year (above).

We work with schools and youth groups, and have active partnerships with other voluntary groups, including Men’s Shed Perth, Perth & District Beekeepers’ Association, the RHS of Perthshire, and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. We also have close working relationships with social enterprises such as Turning Point Scotland and the Bike Station. Larger Perth employers send volunteers to help with our activity sessions; this includes staff from Perth Racecourse, Aviva, Balfour Beattie, SSE and the Stagecoach Group. Small local businesses also help, for example, the children of the chip shop owner at Craigie Cross water the planters opposite his shop (pictured left).

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PLANS & PARTNERSHIPS OUR ‘USP’?

Our ‘Fair City’ – with its rich history, its beautiful natural environment and the mighty River Tay that runs through it – is a very special place for us. We love how Perth has turned its greatest natural threat, flooding, to its advantage by building flood defences that not only hold back floodwater but have also created beautiful public spaces.

We are unique in being a small charity playing a big part in a major national project; we are helping move Perth towards having a sustainable Zero Waste culture, with a head start in eliminating single use plastics and other waste.

Our ‘flagship’ project, the heather collection, has become a favourite place for locals and visitors alike, and is now one of the most photographed spots in the City. It’s rare for one of our volunteer sessions to go by without passers-by thanking us for what we are doing there.

A little snow doesn’t deter our volunteers!

We are immensely proud of our partnerships. We can share ideas, problems and experiences with the other 49 ‘bloom’ groups in the Take A Pride in Perth & Kinross Association (itself a unique group). And we are taking action for Perth with a huge range of groups, businesses and organisations, many of whom feature elsewhere in this portfolio.

All of our volunteers benefit from the social interactions, the fresh air and exercise, and from learning news skills.

Our many partners benefit from working with us, but best of all, our Fair City has been transformed by Beautiful Perth’s work over the past 30 years and has left that ‘Foul City’ headline far behind.

Autumn colour at the heather collection.

Clients and their support workers from Turning Point Perth with our volunteers at Back Wynd.

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COMMUNITY: These three pages cover Britain in Bloom judging criteria C2 Communication and Awareness: ‘Regional and local marketing, involving all sections of the community. Communication and media involvement, use of suitable interpretation, enabling learning and a greater understanding.’

INCLUSIVENESS Our Zero Waste Perth project core areas are Wards 11 and 12 in Perth, which have higher rates of unemployment and income deprivation. Workshops are held in partnership with other voluntary groups in the Letham and Tulloch housing estates. Clothing repair, remaking and decluttering demonstrations are also run in partnership with local experts and charity shops, for example at ‘swap shop’ events (below).

INTERGENERATIONAL WORKING Our Policy on Intergenerational Working outlines the benefits of our volunteers working with people of different generations to learn from, and about, each other. Recent activities include our sunflower competition involving children from the Paintpots and ABC Nursery Schools and residents of Kincarrathie House care home.

Kincarrathie residents also joined pupils from Kinnoull Primary School at our ‘Heather & Blether’ afternoon in Riverside Park in June. Our volunteers also helped pupils from Perth High School to plant raised beds in the Carpenter Court sheltered housing complex.

Young and old at Kincarrathie Care Home.

ers at each of

We have bann s into Perth.

the main road

Raised beds being built at Perth High School.

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COMMUNICATION & AWARENESS INFORMATION AND AWARENESS

E WEBSIT

R

TWITTE

There are interpre tive signs throughout Perth.

K

O FACEBO

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COMMUNITY PUBLICITY:

We feature in many local publications, including the RHS of Perth’s local show programmes.

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FUNDING & SUPPORT This page sets out our details in relation to Britain in Bloom judging criteria C3 Funding and support: ‘Fundraising and ongoing support from a range of businesses and organisations appropriate to the size of the entry, making it viable and able to continue moving forward.’

FUNDING In line with our Financial Strategy, Beautiful Perth maintains reserves of at least £30,000, and uses its available funds for the benefit of the City. Fundraising is done mainly through seeking sponsorship and grants for specific projects.

Our Treasurer manages our accounts, including handling significantly increased turnover relating to the Zero Waste Project in the three years 2017-20.

Over 90% of our expenditure is on community projects, with the remaining 10% used for tools, supplies and equipment for our volunteers, awards schemes and public awareness materials such as our banners and website.

Our current grants include: • The ‘DAVE’ City Centre Hit Squad project (page 20).

Funding secured from the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ scheme and the Community Safety Partnership.

• Zero Waste Perth. This is the single largest project we have undertaken in terms of funding – up to £300k over three years until 2020, from Zero Waste Scotland and the European Rural Development Fund (page 21).

• Beautiful Perth ‘heritage’ project. Funding from Gannochy Trust for a ‘heritage’ project to mark our 30th anniversary. Plans are being developed for the junction of Oakbank Place and Glasgow Road.

The Council allocates funds within its Greenspace budgets for each of the 50 ‘bloom’ groups in Perth & Kinross, including Beautiful Perth. This year, additional funds are being made available to each group for promotion of the Solheim Cup ladies’ international golf tournament, which will bring thousands of visitors to the area in September.

A special category in our local awards scheme has been created for the ‘Best Solheim Cup’ garden feature.

OTHER FUNDERS Our sponsors are listed on page 13. In addition, we receive funds from interest on our reserves held in a fixed term saving account, and from donations received from individuals and other groups. In 2018-19, we received an un-prompted £1,000 from local charity the Brown Charitable Trust.

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FACTS, FIGURES AND SOME BEAUTIFUL PERTH STATS

SOME FACTS ABOUT PERTH

• Years since establishment: 30 • Volunteer hours: estimated at 5,000 per annum • E quivalent value of volunteer hours (calculated at minimum wage): c£40,000 pa • Number of active partnerships: 57 • Sponsorship income: £7,000 • P ercentage of expenditure related to community projects: 90%

THE TAKE A PRIDE IN PERTH & KINROSS (P&K) ASSOCIATION We are one of 50 member groups in this unique Association, which has volunteers working in communities across the P&K area. As the umbrella group for volunteers with similar interests, the Association was 20 years old last year. It helps member groups with fundraising and provides project management support.

• T here was a Roman fort named ‘Bertha’ 3km from the present day City centre.

• Perth was Scotland’s ancient capital for 500 years.

• I t is now Scotland’s ‘newest’ City (status was restored in 2012).

• S cottish Kings Macbeth, Robert the Bruce and Charles were all enthroned at Scone Palace (above).

• T he RHS of Perthshire is one of the country’s oldest, having been established in 1806.

• T he highest recorded flood in Perth was in 1814, when the level rose 7m (23ft) above normal.

OUR FUTURE PLANS

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Several of our projects will continue as priorities for us in the years ahead. Riverside Park, including the Heather Collection, is a favourite site for our volunteers and we will keep holding frequent (usually weekly) sessions there. Our annual planting of the display at Perth Leisure Pool remains a popular feature for schools in Perth, and our emphasis on working in partnership will certainly continue.

FUTURE PLANS ZERO WASTE PERTH

HERITAGE PROJECT

The project is now in its third year, and our priority is to ensure a lasting legacy of sustainable living in Perth when project funding ends in 2020. This is being done through infrastructure and by ensuring communities have the skills, knowledge and facilities to carry the zero waste ethos forward. This year, activities will focus on engaging an ever-wider range of householders, businesses, organisations and community groups, and the newly opened ‘Zero Waste Space’ (below, as a plan and now in action) is being kitted out as a community resource for re-use and repair workshops, a tool library and a community meeting space.

30

We have funds set aside for a ‘heritage’ project to mark our 30th birthday. The site at Oakbank Place is on Glasgow Road, one of the busiest entrances into Perth.

It already has stone cairn bug hotel, and one of our Beautiful Perth banners. We are working with a local landscape architect to draw up plans for the site and to seek the necessary permissions for the project.

GENERATIONS Our new Intergenerational Working policy brings people of different ages together, working mostly in the outdoor environment, to interact, engage with the activity together, and learn from and about each other. Activities to date have proved very successful and we will continue to evaluate and deliver more of this type of activity. We have an education sub-group of our committee, which takes the lead on this work.

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IN CONCLUSION We are immensely honoured to have been nominated for the Champion of Champions category in 2019. The excitement level amongst our volunteers has been rising ever since they first heard the news!

Being one of the Top 5 Bloom groups in the UK makes us proud and nervous in equal measure. It has spurred us on to more and even harder work around our ‘Fair City’, as we hope comes across in the pages of this portfolio. It has also rallied the people of Perth to our cause.

It was only through pulling the information together for this document that we actually counted the number of active partnerships we have with community groups, local businesses, educational establishments, other charities, social enterprises, sponsors, the local media and residents – and realised we have at least 57 such relationships.

That is the very foundation of how we can deliver our aim of making Perth a beautiful place to live, work and visit.

Knowing we have that level of civic pride alongside us makes our work very rewarding indeed.

We look forward to welcoming the judges to Perth to see the results of that amazing effort.

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ANNEX 1 Beautiful Perth Accounts - Year to 31 March 2019

Scottish Charity SC 032395

Receipts and Payments Account Balances c/f previous year INCOME Sponsors Total Sponsors

2018/19

76,740.79

2017/18 77,051.51

6,950.00

6,250.00

Projects Total Projects

94,522.82

30,845.50

Miscellaneous Total Receipts

2541.26 104,014.26

870.00 37,965.90

10,522.25

4,751.93

Project Expenditure Total Projects Expenditure

103,908.68

33,524.69

Total Payments Surplus for Year TOTAL c/fwd

114,430.93 (10,416.67) 66,324.12

38,276.62 (310.72) 76,740.79

EXPENDITURE Total Governance Costs

Accounts - Year to 31 March 2019 Bank and Cash on Hand Opening Balances Surplus for Year Less, receipts not rec'd @ y/e Plus, payment not yet presented @ y/e Closing Balances Reserves

High Interest Account General Fund Cash in Hand

2018/19

2017/18

76,740.79

77,051.51

(10,416.67)

(310.72)

2,250.00 527.50

1,137.50 1,009.58

64,601.62

76,612.87

22,000.00 42,601.62 0.00

32,000.00 44,612.87 0.00

64,601.62

76,612.87

JUDGES’ ROUTE SHOWN IN PURPLE

Website: www.beautifulperth.org Email: info@beautifulperth.org Facebook: @beautifulperthcampaign Twitter: @beautiperth Flickr: BeautifulPerthScotland Designed by www.lightpressdesign.co.uk