CFINE Future Growers Aberdeen is a city-wide programme supporting children, young people and families to connect with food growing, nature and community wellbeing through hands-on learning experiences.
Led by CFINE, Future Growers Aberdeen is designed to improve health and wellbeing and the environment, promote outdoor learning and food growing, and nurture community connections through creative, community-informed action.
Running across four locations in Aberdeen, the project brings together local partners to deliver seasonal, inclusive and place-based activities:
• St Fittick’s Park, Torry – Family workshops in gardening, nature connection and community meals, in partnership with St Fittick’s Park SCIO
• The Grove Nursery, Hazlehead – A PEEP Learning Together Programme with early years children and families
• Mounthooly Roundabout, City Centre – Workshops for young adults, including students on NESCOL’s Sustainability with Urban Gardening course, as part of the new Mounthooly Food Forest initiative
The blog below is from Rebecca, CFINE’s Community Growing Development Worker. Recently she met with St Fitticks Park SCIO to discuss some upcoming plans for CFINE Future Growers at Balnagask Supper Club.
Last week I met with Julia and Nattie, part of the St Fitticks Park SCIO, to firm up our plans for the collaborative CFINE Future Growers initiative in Torry. This is part of a wider programme funded by the Scottish Children’s Lottery Trust supporting children, young people, and families to connect with food growing, nature and community wellbeing.
The CFINE Future Growers Project: St Fittick’s Park Edition is an outdoor learning programme for children and their families, coordinated by CFINE in collaboration with Friends of St Fittick’s Park. It will take place at the Balnagask Community Centre, and the St Fittick’s Outdoor Classroom in Torry, Aberdeen.
Julia and Nattie, as representatives of St Fitticks Park SCIO, are committed to maintaining and developing links with the community and providing outdoor learning opportunities, and informed me that they are planning a community biodiversity survey of the site in April, to raise awareness of the benefits of the park.
Whilst some of the park is currently fenced off for construction, the Outdoor Classroom located at the park is still accessible, which the SCIO were instrumental in installing in 2023 after successfully securing funding voted for by residents of Aberdeen.
CFINE has previously delivered multiple projects and services for and with the residents of Torry, and my role has led me to lead on a variety of these over the years including providing support and advice to the Tullos Community Garden, The St Fitticks Edible Garden, and coordinating the CFINE Community Music Project.
After facilitating some gardening workshops at the St Fitticks Outdoor Classroom in 2024, it’s exciting to get the chance to work with St Fitticks Park in this more in-depth project, and to develop new links with the Balnagask Community Centre. As a community project location, St Fitticks Park will provide a vibrant setting for plant and bird ID activities and connecting with nature due to the rich biodiversity providing habitat for many species, including the beautifully restored wetlands (which were completed in 2014 and naturally filter industrial runoff). Alongside this the Balnagask Community Centre, with a fenced of grassy area already in place, is a wonderful opportunity to develop a community garden.
The community garden project we’re planning will consist of a series of gardening and outdoor learning workshops for children and families, hosted both at the St Fitticks Outdoor Classroom, and at the nearby Balnagask Community Centre during their weekly ‘Supper Club’. We hope to provide value for and with the residents of Torry, boosting local wellbeing, and community resilience.
After my meeting with Nattie and Julia, I cycled off to scope out our project locations: the green space at Balnagask Community Centre, and the Outdoor Classroom at St Fittick’s Park, where we plan to do activities with the children including:
- Plant Propagation: Learn to take cuttings and grow new plants.
- Grow Your Own Salad Bowl: Sow and care for salad crops in containers to take home.
- Nature Walk: Explore the biodiversity of St Fittick’s Park.
- Installing and Planting Raised Beds: Create a new community garden at Balnagask Community Centre.
- Mushroom Growing: Learn about the life of mushrooms, and the incredible role they play in nature. Take home a mushroom growkit.
- Community Meal: A celebration using homegrown produce and ingredients sourced from local gardens.
All sessions will be free of charge, with expenses available to support regular attendance.
Watch this space!
For more information about CFINE Future Growers please contact Rebecca RDunn@CFINE.org
