On 27th June the Winchburgh Community Growing Group (WCGG) celebrated the first milestone of a greener, happier and healthier Winchburgh.

The recently launched group aims to promote a village which is reconnected with good food. They're putting the principles of local seasonal food into practice by adding planters filled with edibles including herbs, vegetables, fruits to be made available for everyone. Inspired by ‘Incredible Edibles’, the group have  installed the eight planters along a pathway and outside the Tally Ho, the local pub. Indeed, in Winchburgh you can now go for a pint and grab some herbs and salads on the way back home all courtesy of the WCGG.

“This is a great initiative for the community and I fully support it.” Said John, the Tally Ho manager, who agreed to look after two planters. Residents next to the other planters are taking turns in watering the herbs and plants. 

What initially was a project with the vision to make good food accessible for all, it has now been enhanced with the additional social aspect, in other words people are coming together to support the project and getting out of their houses, meeting their neighbours and talking to each other, something that sometimes fades away with people’s busy lifestyles.

On Sunday, when Vivian Maeda and John West, both founders of the WCGG, where building a planter at Tally Ho, a charming elderly gentlemen approached the two to find out more about the project and Vivian offered him a flower petal to taste. He had never eaten a flower before and to his surprise he thought it tasted ‘alright’. Never too late to try something new!

Holy Primary School and Winchburgh Primary School have been involved in local park consultations and as part of this work the P4 class at Holy Family offered to create a logo for the WCGG. The judges thought that Jessica Philbin’s logo stood out. To her mum’s pride, Jessica’s logo will be now featured in every single planter of the project, a huge accomplishment for an aspiring 8 years old artist.

It has been quite a journey, and it has just started, so for now The Winchburgh Community Growing Group would like to thank all the supporters: Winchburgh Development Trust, Winchburgh Developments Ltd, Cyrenians Farm, Secret Herb Garden, Hopetoun Gardens and all volunteers from the village. Let the Good Food Revolution begin!

* Project was inspired by Incredible Edible http://incredibleediblenetwork.org.uk/