DEVELOPMENT & CONTINUITY

Since 1993, when we began as a small Committee of just half a dozen souls, we have rippled out through our Community. As most Bloom groups, we began with “Hanging Baskets”, as that is a very visible sign and, in fact, Perth & Kinross Council were already hanging around 60. 1994 saw the Committee grow rapidly under the direction of Mike Nicolson, the Distillery Manager at Bells Blair Athol Distillery and we are still holding our monthly meetings there, some 17 years later. We believe we are the only “Bloom” group to meet in a Whisky Distillery. The group has always been a hugely enthusiastic committee of amateur gardeners, prepared to turn their hand to anything, many disasters along the way. Our early foray in floral sculptures led one resident to ask what the “Red Parrots” were at the entrance to the town, we obviously wouldn’t have won any awards at Chelsea for our Salmon!!

The early 1990’s brought success in Take A Pride in Perthshire and Beautiful Scotland in Bloom as the Committee got to grips with fund-raising and gardening a town. Mike left for new pastures in 1997 and Kate Stevenson led the group spectacularly onto the next level. In 1998, we were finalists for the first time in Bath at Britain in Bloom in the Small Country Town Category, but success didn’t come our way until 1999 in Harrogate when we won our Category. Success followed in 2001 & in 2003 with a Silver-Gilt Medal from the RHS. As we became more credible and more ambitious, it was easier financially and we were able to take on bigger projects. The Armoury Park Project took five long years and was finally opened in 2002 by John Swinney MSP. By this time we had competed in Entente Florale and the International Challenge in 2000 and hosted the Beautiful Scotland in Bloom Awards.

At this time it was necessary to recruit some assistance and we began to ask residents in the community to help out with the increasing amount of work required to maintain the many features we had created around the town. Kate stepped down in 2004 and Sally Spaven took on the Chairman’s role and we were joined by Julia Corden, Explorers Garden Manager, whose expertise in horticulture was soon made use of as we ripped all our floral features apart and carried out a massive replanting exercise to provide year round effect. A timely exercise, as the next few years brought Spring as well as Summer judging. We had to move into the Small Town Category at this point as our population had grown and after recruiting further helpers in town, we felt we had created enough floral features and would turn our attention to the Environment and trying to involve more non-gardeners in the Campaign. Fund-raising became critical and we explored new ways of generating income as council cutbacks continued. We also created a “Friends of Pitlochry in Bloom” due to local demand. We now have a committee of 12, a fantastic group of volunteers who look after our town features, a litter support team and our “Friends”.

We began our Secret Gardens Day in 2004, when town gardens are open to the public, along with our local competition, we involve as many residents and visitors as we can.

The success of our change in direction has brought us the IWAM Award for Cleanliness and the VisitScotland Trophy Award for Tourism in 2004, 2006 & 2008. In 2007 we were back in Britain in Bloom in the Small Town Category and won our first Gold Medal.

The “Enchanted Forest” moved to Pitlochry in 2005 and brought increased visitors to enjoy our “Big Tree Country” and woodlands. In 2007, amongst concern that the event was going to be moved away from the town, we joined the Enchanted Forest Group, which began an Autumn Festival to retain the event here. A new initiative of Pitlochry in Bloom was the “Silver Branch” begun as part of the Festival and we involved a professional Storyteller working in a Mongolian Yurt with children attending the event and our local school. So successful was storytelling as a medium for education that we have rolled it out to other remote Highland Perthshire schools along with feltmaking. The “Silver Branch” now has a life of its own and we have carried the initiative forward for four years, winning one of only three “Big Tree Country” awards last year for Community & Families Education. A further grant from the Scottish Book Trust and a Scottish Arts Council Bursary enabled us to have a whole week on Biodiversity with the children in Explorers in May and the Storyteller was able to work on a Community Storytelling Project this year. Locally, a group is now growing of all ages, to carry forward this wonderful form of local culture. Big Tree Country are using our format next year for three blocks of two weeks as part of their own Community Education programme.

As a group, we are never short on ideas, only the finance & time to carry them out! We have one project ready to go, when we can fund it, a second which has been exercising our minds for a few years and hopefully a woodland project in our heritage site at the Bobbin Mill Woods coming soon. 2009 bought a second Gold Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society, a Category win, our entry in 2010 into the “Champion of Champions” category and an invitation to compete in the International challenge, which we have accepted.

An exciting year ahead, but with the support of the Community behind us, we are going for it!