A BIG-HEARTED city school which helped its community through the toughest of years has triumphed in the Glasgow Times Streets Ahead Awards.
St Roch’s Primary and Deaf School was named overall winner and best school in our virtual version of the annual awards, which are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year supported by Glasgow City Council, People Make Glasgow Greener, City Charitable Trust and City Building.
Parents, pupils and staff at the Royston school set up a shop providing pre-loved clothing, toys and household items to the whole community.
It has helped families struggling to cope during the pandemic, and has encouraged everyone to recycle.
Acting depute Jennifer Smith said: “We are overjoyed. This is all credit to the fantastic parents who run our recycling shop, and our amazing pupils, staff and the wider Royston community who support us.
“And it is the icing on the cake for our wonderful headteacher Mary McNulty, who is retiring after 43 years’ service. We are all so proud and happy.”
Glasgow Times editor Callum Baird said: “The pupils, parents and staff at St Roch’s Primary and Deaf School are inspirational. They understand their community and what it needs – and they pulled together to help. They are very worthy winners.”
The incredible Denmilne Action Group won Best Clean-up Campaign. Fed up residents in Easterhouse set up the group to tackle litter, neglected green spaces and overflowing bins in the area, and they have transformed local streets, and run community events.
The Best Community Garden award went to Riversidehall in Govan, where residents turned an eyesore site into a much-loved hub for growing, gardening and catching up with friends and neighbours. In addition to individual raised beds and children’s areas, it has a potting shed and polytunnel, and it has become a place for chat, relaxation and support.
The Green Glasgow Business Award went to Glasgow’s only plastic-free shop, Zero Waste Market in Dennistoun, a greengrocer dedicated to helping customers buy as little or as much as they need.
Glasgow Play-Resource Association, whose scrapstore and craft activities help save three million tonnes of material from going to landfill each year, won Glasgow City Council Environmental Initiative.
The charity has been leading the way on the importance of recycling for 37 years and it is now in great demand to help other towns and cities set up similar programmes.
Kelvindale’s An Empty Gunny Bag Cannot Stand, which encouraged local people to plant potatoes and come together for a community harvest, won Best Community Initiative.
Set up by Aproxima Arts and supported by members of the community aged from two to 94, this project brought neighbours together during lockdown and helped beat isolation and loneliness in the community.
And finally, Beata Kolecka, the inspirational driving force behind a clean-up campaign in Castlemilk park and woodlands, is the first winner of our People Make Glasgow Greener category.
Beata has rallied neighbours and friends together for litter-picks, has undergone training to support local green initiatives and is working towards helping to create an area litter plan.
Read more about all our winners and runners-up in our special 24-page supplement inside today’s newspaper.