Group type: Constituted community group

Category: Engagement, Nature

Project Description: Our project will transform the Boer War Memorial plaza in Alyth into a fully accessible, attractive public space that celebrates local heritage and supports climate-positive action. Plans include replacing the current gravel with permeable block paving, removing two overgrown trees, restoring the historic memorial, fountain, and millennium sculpture, adding stone cladding to planters, and creating vibrant planting beds with native, pollinator-friendly species. New seating and activity tables, along with a listening post sharing audio stories of the site’s history, will make the plaza a welcoming destination.

1. Engagement - increasing public awareness and engaging communities

We have involved the community through consultation events, social media outreach, and collaboration with Alyth Community Council, receiving overwhelming support. We will continue to engage residents, schools, and local groups, offering volunteer opportunities in planting, maintenance, and heritage interpretation. The plaza is already a gathering place for the Alyth Pipe Band and the Alyth Brass Band, who perform there during remembrance services and on busy market days. Their music draws residents and visitors together, reinforcing civic pride and ensuring that the space remains an active hub for community connection. To enhance understanding of the site’s history, we will install a listening post where visitors can hear an audio account of the Boer War Memorial and the project’s environmental improvements, making information accessible to all ages and abilities. Community planting days will further encourage people to learn about climate-resilient gardening, biodiversity, and sustainable materials, inspiring climate-friendly action at home.

2. Nature - improving greenspace and increasing biodiversity

The site suffers from dense tree cover that blocks light and creates heavy leaf fall, while the gravel surface limits planting opportunities. We will carefully remove two problematic trees and introduce a diverse mix of native shrubs, perennials, and pollinator-friendly plants in the raised beds and surrounding borders. This will boost biodiversity, provide habitat for birds and insects, and create a healthier, more resilient greenspace. Permeable block paving will reduce surface water run-off, and all materials will be sourced locally where possible.

3. Helping with the cost of living

By creating an attractive, freely accessible public space, the project offers residents a no-cost venue for recreation, socialising, and outdoor activities, reducing the need for travel to distant leisure sites. Improved seating and activity tables with built-in games provide year-round opportunities for intergenerational play and community gatherings at no expense to users. Community planting and maintenance days will give volunteers the chance to learn practical gardening and sustainability skills that can be applied at home, helping households grow their own plants and food.

Community Impact: We estimate that over 3,000 people - including Alyth’s residents, regular visitors, and tourists - will directly benefit from the improved Boer War Memorial plaza each year. This figure reflects local population numbers, footfall in the adjacent Market Square, and attendance at regular events such as market days and remembrance services.

Around 25 volunteers from Alyth in Bloom and the wider community will be involved in delivering the project through activities such as planting, site preparation, fundraising support, and ongoing maintenance.

The wider community benefits include:

- Reducing social isolation by providing a welcoming, accessible gathering space for all ages and abilities.
- Improving mental health and wellbeing through access to nature, attractive planting, and opportunities for outdoor activity.
- Strengthening community pride and heritage connection by restoring the historic memorial and creating a focal point for remembrance and civic events.
- Encouraging intergenerational interaction with activity tables and volunteer opportunities that bring together young people, families, and older adults.
- Supporting local businesses by increasing footfall and enhancing the overall appeal of Alyth’s town centre.

Climate Change Impact: Our project will achieve climate-action impacts through both direct environmental improvements and community engagement.

Direct impacts include:

1. Biodiversity gain: We will remove two diseased or overgrown trees and replace them with a diverse mix of around 300 native, pollinator-friendly shrubs and perennials, creating new habitat for insects and birds and improving ecosystem resilience.

2. Surface-water management: Replacing approximately 250 m² of impermeable gravel with permeable block paving will reduce rainwater run-off and help manage localised flooding.

3. Sustainable materials: All stone and plants will be sourced locally where possible, cutting transport emissions and supporting a lower-carbon supply chain.

Enabling impacts include:

1. Community engagement: At least 25 volunteers and visitors will take part in planting days and ongoing maintenance, gaining practical skills in climate-resilient gardening, composting, and water-wise planting.

2. Education and behaviour change: A listening post will share information on how the new planting supports biodiversity and mitigates climate impacts, inspiring residents to adopt similar approaches in their own gardens. These combined measures will lower the plaza’s environmental footprint, increase local green cover, and build community knowledge and capacity to respond to climate change well beyond the project site.

Group type: Charity

Category: Energy

Project Description: Towards Net Zero – Our project is focussed on our journey towards Net Zero. We want to reduce our contribution to CO2 emissions by maximising the usage of the electricity which we generate through solar PV panels. We want to increase the area of solar PV panels on our roof and install a 25kWh battery In the switchroom. This will increase the amount of electricity which we generate, will allow us to store surplus electricity for future use. This will reduce the amount of electricity which we have to purchase from the grid and hence reduce our carbon footprint.

Community Impact: All the hub users will benefit from the proposal's, more 600 hours of let last year comprising than 200 individual users of all ages, The project will reduce our energy costs in the long term, allowing us to focus more of our resources on supporting the wider community. We can continue our existing events without having to consider costs increases to users and we will be able to increase the range of activities we offer. The Village Lunch will continue to benefit the older people, reducing isolation and giving them a warm social space to meet. The Toddlers group will benefit similarly but for a much younger age group. These groups all help in reducing social isolation and improving the mental health of the users. The new youth group which we are planning to start in early 2026 will also benefit from this grant. We have had 6 volunteers who have been involved in this project and will continue to be involved through to completion. We have a pool of over 30 regular volunteers.

The ability to store electricity for future use will be a big help to our Resilience plans which we are currently developing in conjunction with Kettins Parish Community Council. We will be bale to use the stored electricity to provide support to the community in power cuts and other emergency situations.

Climate Change Impact: Our project will have a direct impact on climate action through the energy savings generated by the additional solar PV panels and the Battery. Solar PV panels capacity increases from 4.5kW to 11kW. New battery, capacity 25kWh will allow us to save and re-use excess electricity generated by the PV panels.

Group type: Constituted Community Group

Category: Waste & Circular Economy, Resilience, Engagement, Nature

Project Description: Our project is a new Community garden project and is a joint venture with Cargill and Burrelton Church. The Kirk session has agreed for us to utilise the land beside the church, which hasn’t been actively used for a while. The garden will be a great use of this site in the heart of the Woodside community.

We believe our new project fits the requirements of the Green Living Fund criteria of Waste, Resilience, Nature and Engagement. Our aim is that the garden can be used by the community whether it be by active participation in the development & maintenance or just visiting and sitting meeting people to combat social isolation, and provide an outlet to address physical and mental wellbeing in our rural community. We are looking to create links with the community café and Shepherds hut that is run on Tuesdays & Fridays. There is also a toddler group associated with the church and our hope is that they can experience food growing and interact with nature.

Our progress on this project has been that we have created our garden using recycled materials and donations from many members of our community. On the first day of construction we had 15 volunteers from our villages and Wolfhill. Our vegetables are growing in raised planters which came from a local firm and are slab crates, we have them mounted on pallets supplied by members of the public and Eosf. To fill these crates we have used green & brown waste, composted leaves from the Burrelton green, sheep wool, chipped tree waste, spent strawberry compost. We currently have potatoes, spring onions, curly kale and purple sprouting broccoli, garlic, strawberries and herbs growing. We plan to plant fruit trees, and hopefully a selection of shrubs and cut flowers that the church can use, whilst providing useful nectar for wildlife.
We have constructed two compost areas so that we can create our own compost for future use.

We have received donations from members and now have a shed, slabs to create a hard stand around the shed and under a donated bench. We have a potting bench made by another member out of donated timber.

As an off shoot to the garden we are having a community evening involving the creation and painting of wooden insects and butterflies that will decorate the shed and planters. This is being led by a bloom group member who is also an artist and works with all ages on art projects in the village.

The Bloom group will be planting nectar rich spring bulbs in the church grounds and have assisted the church with a couple of small pruning jobs as a result of this joint venture.

The creation of the Bloom group for our villages has received a positive response, we have approximately 22 planters dotted about, we have put up lights at Christmas and made wooden Christmas trees for decoration, we have made and painted poppies for Remembrance Weekend. So far we have been self funded via Quiz nights, Plant sales and our annual summer Garden competition.

Community Impact: The addition of a polytunnel will enable us to expand our current garden activities, we hope to open the garden for activities twice a week specifically linking in with our Community Cafe/Shepherds hut on Tuesdays and the Shepherds hut (waste food project)on Fridays. The hut attracts approximately 45 people on Tuesdays and people visit both facilities. The garden will be accessible the rest of the week for people to meet, sit and maybe take a picnic down. I anticipate 20 volunteers spread across our Bloom group, The Church Group and some non members who have participated in open events. The benefits to the wider community involve reducing social isolation, we have already seen the benefit amongst our Bloom group members post bereavement and what it has meant for them to be involved and making things. We want to provide facilities to grow food, not everyone has large gardens or the confidence to grow their own food and it would be great for maybe older participants to pass on their knowledge to the younger visitors. We are receiving positive feedback for all the work achieved so far in respect of the planters around the village and the bulbs that pop up in the spring. Our mother and toddler group is hoping to have their own planter in the garden where they can encourage the children to learn and play. And we hope to be able to involve the local school with growing workshops which will create opportunities for mixed age group activities.

Climate Change Impact: In terms of climate change impact, the addition of a polytunnel will enhance and expand what our community garden has already achieved in such a short space of time, we have been focusing on recycling and reusing, to date we have recycled pallets, old slab crates, slabs, carpet, ton bulk bags, a shed, timber, a bench, a wheelbarrow, garden tools, pots, spent compost, green waste from the community café, bark chips and donated plants. The pallets and crates have created our raised beds, the ton bags have lined the beds, the carpet is acting as a weed suppressant. The spent compost, bark chippings and green manure we have collected has reduced the need for us to buy as much fresh compost. We have received donate herbs and garlic which are now growing, strawberry plant runners were saved when we collected the spent compost. The slabs we have received were donated by a member who no longer needed them and they are being used around our donated shed and as a base for a bench to sit on. The donated timber has come from a building site and was just going to be skipped at the end of the development. We do have an outside tap but we will be harvesting rainwater from the church hall as much as possible. Any green waste we generate will be added to our compost heaps to create our own compost. Many of the items we have received would have ended up in landfill or cost us a lot of money to buy so a lot has been achieved by recycling.

Group type: Charity

Category: Waste and Circular Economy, Engagement

Project Description: School Uniform Bank
We are looking to secure funding to run our School Uniform Bank throughout the year and our Back to School and Nursery project over the summer.
School Uniform can cost families between £150-£200 per child whereas it only costs us ££27.60 per pack to provide nearly everything a child needs. Our project would save our community over £225,000 in school uniform costs which then allows families to redistribute these savings into other household bills, keeping houses warm, children fed and our community thriving.
We have run our Back to School project for the last three years offering free applications to everyone living in Perth and Kinross and attending a school.
2023 – 300 2024 – 647 2025 - 1,034
We have seen a dramatic increase in applications each year, which not only indicates the need for free uniform support, but also our community’s commitment to reducing their fast fashion purchases.
Social Flock has been collecting pre-loved donations from our community across Perth and Kinross for three years. We would like to be able to open applications throughout the year for school uniform to support the ongoing need of growing children and families. Despite receiving 1,003 Back to School pack applications over summer, we continue to receive multiple requests for uniform from individuals, PKC service providers, charities and other community support networks.
In our Back to School packs we provide three days of school uniform, two days of PE kit, a school bag, a pair of school shoes and an additional extra each applicant can select for themselves ranging from school socks to a water bottle.
In our Back to Nursery Packs we provide 5 days of mix and match outfits: 5 bottoms, 5 tops, 5 jumpers and a pair of shoes. We offer 2 additional extras such as sun hats, hair ties, socks, vests and pants.
What else do we offer as part of this service?
Personalised Packs – to reduce waste and ensure the clothing we are redistributing will be used fully we don’t just ask for clothing and footwear sizes. We ask for sensory requirements, a style guide, colour choices and characters that children would love to have on their school bag. Each pack is catered to exactly what each child would like not just what they need.
Free doorstep delivery to each applicant to remove barriers to access across Perth and Kinross including access to travel in rural areas, disability and mental health issues which would limit access to our central Perth Hub.
Community Pop-Up Shops allow people to visit our event and ‘Pick Their Own Pack’ which increases dignity for everyone whilst also promoting wearing preloved, thus reducing the stigma around this within the community.
Community-based Collections – working in collaboration with other community groups, businesses and charities we have run collection points across Perthshire to enable our community to pick up their packs in their local area. Removing emissions from delivery and building community-based action.

Community Impact: Over 3,000 people will be positively impacted by our School Uniform Bank throughout 2026, covering benefits to cost-of-living, mental health and wellbeing, community activism and environmental awareness. Not only do pupils benefit from our packs, but everyone in their home. Households can redistribute uniform savings to other essential household bills like food, heating and fuel costs. Our applicants have told us our packs reduce stress in the household, support positive mental health and wellbeing for adults, excitement for returning to school & nursery for the children, alongside providing items they would otherwise not be able to afford. We work with a team of around 50 volunteers. We have regular volunteers coming into our Hub to organise donations, make up packs, and deliver packs to families across Perth and Kinross. We have volunteers who offer other essential roles for delivering all our projects such as washing and mending. We make sure any volunteering role is free for our volunteers, because we know we couldn’t run Social Flock without their contribution of time and energy. We offer travel costs, provide sustenance throughout their volunteer time. Our Delivery Drivers are provided with fuel reimbursement for their journeys. Our menders and washers are provided with specific supplies anything else they would need to support their volunteering. Keeping volunteering free to our community allows more people to support our services in a way that is accessible to them.

Climate Change Impact: Social Flock perfectly combines anti-poverty and pro-climate action for our Perth and Kinross Community. On a monthly basis Social Flock receives around 1 ton of clothing donations coming directly from our community across the 12 Perth and Kinross wards. We are redistributing between 1 – 1.5 tons of clothing to families across Perth and Kinross. We have also worked with different groups to run workshops to increase engagement with the aim to reuse and recycle clothing and build skills. We partner with AK Bell’s Lend and Mend hub to repair and redesign clothing ensuring we keep items in circulation for as long as possible. We are committed increasing our community’s knowledge on the environmental impact that fast fashion has. In 2025 we launched our Rural School Uniform Climate Challenge. Schools collected donation of preloved clothing and circulated our Back to School application, contributing to their Eco-School Status. In 2026 we would like to expand this into more schools across Perth and Kinross, offering complimentary workshops to further educate pupils on the environmental impact of wearing preloved clothing, embracing changes in their clothing and shopping habits and becoming Clothing Climate Activists. We see an increase in families returning their clothing to us building a cyclical clothing economy. By ensuring our Donation Stations are open and accessible to families across Perth and Kinross we can reduce re-useable clothing being put into our landfills.