IMPACT

Pitlochry  - A town for all seasons.

SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER - The gardening year begins for us in September with seed being ordered by the nursery as we choose the basket plants for the following year and design the Carpet bed on Atholl Road.  As most Committees are winding down, we get ready for the Enchanted Forest and Autumn Festival and an influx of 20,000 visitors over 17 nights.  Last year we won of the only three Big Tree Country awards for our work with Community Education.  Once that is over, bulb planting begins and the beds are put to bed!!  November usuallys sees the hard-working committee off on a well earned holiday, then its back to Reindeer and Father Christmas.

JANUARY TO MARCH - January 1st sees us on duty at the New Year's Day Party annually attended by upwards of 4,000 folk as they bring in the New Year, then its off to Winter Words at the Pitlochry Fesitval Theatre.  This year we welcomed Alys Fowler as our sponsored presenter from Gardeners World.   A whole weekend of gardening specialists talking about gardening.  January also saw Julia & Laurie off to York for the Britain in Bloom seminar, gardening seemed a long way off during the longest, coldest winter we have had since the 1930's.

Spring came late in 2010 and with it we saw the carnage reaked by the severe prolonged cold weather.  Time to plan for summer and help out at the school!

We began planning in November 2009 to celebrate 2010 International Year of Biodiversity with a whole raft of events from our resident Storyteller in the Explorers Garden for the local schools to Moth, Bat, Swift events and Heritage Tree walks in the Atholl Palace grounds.

The team of knitters were busy too, knitting over 1,000 woolly baskets which the committee filled with Cadbury's creme eggs and sell to the tourists as a fundraiser for our summer baskets later in the year.  Joy Hammond, an Orkney knitter, annually knits over 500 for us to fill and sell, see picture. ( on it's way!)

APRIL TO JUNE -  After the flurry of Easter, it was time to survey the damage the winter wrought, order more plants and prepare for Scottish Biodiversity week.  We had been working since last November on a full and varied programme for the Scottish Biodiversity week with our partners and the Tayside Biodiversity Festival group.  We secured funding from the Book Trust to have a resident Storyteller in Explorers Garden for the whole week, working with local school children exploring the wide diversity of this beautiful part of Scotland.  Tree walks, Bat, Moth and Swift events, Garden Tours and later a Big Bug Hunt during Insect week in June.

JULY TO AUGUST - We welcomed Correy Lacey from the USA, studying Soil Science at Arkensaw University for work experience in Explorers and also bid farewell to the last of our 600 People to People Programme Exchange Students from all over the USA.

Time to make some money now, and enjoy the flowers!

Secret Gardens on the first Sunday of August, Pimms sponsored by the Distillery.  Thrift Shop for two weeks, Bowling Club Quiz Night and the dreaded Judging!  This year we are in " Champion of Champions" and the " International Challenge " And then its back to Strawberries and Cream and Games day and what will we do next year!!