SIX sensational years of Streets Ahead has added extra sparkle to Glasgow.
Our community campaign designed to improve the city one street at a time is still inspiring people in every neighbourhood – north, south, east and west.
With the fantastic support of our partners City Charitable Trust, Glasgow City Council, Scottish Fire and Rescue and City Building, we are celebrating another outstanding 12 months of hard work, dedication and enthusiasm.
We kicked off year six in style, thanks to some crafty work on the part of Urban Roots flower-flingers.
The south side environmental charity helped us to launch this year’s campaign with a nifty collection of new plant pots recycled from old copies of the Evening Times.
It was part of the team’s big plans for 2017, which included commuter workshops at train stations and the Throw and Grow project, which encouraged children to make little seed balls of bee and butterfly-friendly flowers to fling at vacant or unused land around the city.
It was a fantastic start – and things didn’t stop there.
Over the next few months, we told you tales of inspirational horticultural workers, such as Ross Gallacher, a young apprentice who helped to turn Pollok Park into a community hub, and music-minded clean-up champions Fans of Barrowland Park, who are determined to keep the innovative Album Pathway – which lists all the acts who have appeared at the famous venue – litter-free.
Schools have been at the heart of our initiative since we launched in 2011. This year, primaries, secondaries, nurseries all over the city got on board and there have been some amazing examples of Streets Ahead school projects – find out more later in the supplement.
It wasn’t just schools who supported our campaign – businesses, theatre groups, housing associations, charities and community organisations all got on board.
There were more Streets Ahead grants awarded to local projects, including £500 for a nursery school’s innovative hen coop project, £2000 to a social enterprise determined to beat food poverty, £400 to an innovative environmental art project and £1200 to a school for children with autism who were determined to create a beautiful sensory garden for pupils.
There were parties and Christmas celebrations, litter-picks and drama workshops and last night, our busy year rounded off with our annual awards ceremony, hosted by Glasgow City Council, in the stunning surroundings of the Winter Gardens at the People’s Palace.
Once again, the city’s growers, gardeners, litter-pickers and community stalwarts got behind the most joyful campaign around – and in doing so, they have helped us to transform Glasgow.
Evening Times Editor Graham Shields said: “The sixth year of our Streets Ahead campaign has been a fantastic success, thanks to the hardworking groups and individuals getting involved around the city.
“From flower-flingers to horticultural heroes, from clean-up kings and queens to creative gardeners, we are delighted to tell you their stories.
“Streets Ahead is about much more than just litter-picking and weeding. The projects that happen under our inspirational banner bring communities together. What may seem a simple idea at first, often takes root and grows into something much more special and communities all over the city are reaping the rewards.
“We are grateful to our generous partners, Glasgow City Council, Scottish Fire and Rescue, City Charitable Trust and City Building, for their support and we look forward to another amazing year of Streets Ahead next year.”
Over the next few pages, you can catch up with all of the excellent work carried out under the Streets Ahead banner this year, starting with our tribute to all the awards winners and runners-up from last night’s ceremony.
For more information on how you can get involved, visit www.eveningtimes.co.uk, email streetsahead@eveningtimes.co.uk or call 0141 302 6555.