People's Postcode Lottery: Celebrating Our Partnership Since 2011
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Thank you to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for helping us adapt in 2020
Thank you so much for helping us adapt and rise to the challenges of 2020.
We are immensely grateful for the support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and have especially felt its impact over the past 12 months.
2020 was due to be our year of 350th anniversary celebrations, and few of our plans played out as we expected. However, with the determination to adapt and continue our critical work, I am delighted to share that we have found new ways to share our harvest and connect with local communities; educate children and train teachers; and continue our vital research and conservation activity – all to achieve our purpose to explore, conserve and explain the world of plants for a better future.
All of this is made possible by the brilliant support of players of People’s Postcode Lottery
Simon Milne MBE FRGS
Regius Keeper -
Celebrating our Partnership Since 2011
Celebrating Our Partnership Since 2011
- 2011: The Edible Gardening Project begins, thanks to a grant of £105,000 via the Postcode Dream Fund over 2011 and 2012. We host our first Harvest Festival, featuring Ask the Gardener, cooking demonstrations, live music and performances.
- 2012: Over 10,000 people are reached in the first two years of partnership via drop-in sessions, tours and workshops. The book, Growing Your Own Vegetables, is published as part of the Edible Gardening Project. Leveraging the players’ support, we were awarded £10,000 by Botanic Gardens Conservation International for a 7-month project, and a further £20,000 by the Edinburgh and Lothians Health Trust for a 24-month project.
- 2013: £100,000 awarded by the Postcode Green Trust further develops the Edible Gardening Project, as well as core plant research, conservation and education work – marking the start of a long-term funding relationship with the Garden. Our team delivered a presentation about the Edible Gardening Project’s involvement in the Communities in Nature programme at BGCI International Congress in Mexico.
- 2014: Over 800,000 visitors attracted to our four gardens across Scotland. Volunteers from People’s Postcode Lottery joined us to help with the Edible Gardening Project, and the Garden hosted the award event for the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge Scholarship.
- 2015: We were awarded £175,000 by People’s Postcode Lottery, and launched the Basic Gardening Skills course in March. We also reached the milestone of over 30,000 interactions with community groups and visitors via the Edible Gardening Project since the project began.
- 2016: Visitor numbers rose to 962,554 at our four Gardens in 2016. We were awarded a £200,000 Extra Award for ‘Saving Forests, Changing Lives’, a project to work with local partners in Tanzania to tackle illegal logging and deforestation, through engaging communities in preserving habitats important for their livelihood and promoting environmental awareness amongst school children. In addition, the Market Garden Project launches, providing volunteering and training opportunities to grow food for our café, restaurant and canteen in collaboration with Sodexo.
- 2017: The Garden is awarded £250,000 in core funding from the Postcode Earth Trust, and a further £75,000 Extra Award to help fund new discoveries within our Living and Preserved Collections. Our team discover and describe 38 plant species new to science, consult 213 people in 8 coastal communities to find our how households rely on forest products, and manage a digital herbarium catalogue where over 1.5 million data records are downloaded.
- 2018: We are awarded £350,000 from the Postcode Earth Trust, and host 3 volunteer days for positive and enthusiastic PPL staff, who help out with painting the tool shed, weeding in the Market Garden, planting garlic and sowing broad beans. Between 2016 and 2018, volunteers give over 11,000 hours of time to the Edible Gardening Project.
- 2019: The Garden is awarded £450,000 from the Postcode Earth Trust, £50,000 of which supports our work to tackle illegal logging. To date, the Edible Gardening Project has worked with 106 community groups.
- 2020: Despite closures and significant restrictions due to COVID-19, we safely welcome 42,000 visitors to the Think Plastic Exhibition over the course of the year, and reach 1,032 people online for the Harvest Festival via a virtual produce show. Our online school programme, Marley’s School of Garden Magic, has over 10,000 views, reaching 4,149 active users from all over the country and around the world. We also reach 20 teachers and nursery staff from schools in the Highlands with new virtual teacher workshops. We also donate over 900kg of fresh produce to community food initiatives such as Granton:Hub, contributing to dozens of food parcels and hundreds of meals per week.
Find out more about our Edible Gardening Project
The Edible Gardening Project is based at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and shares horticultural knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for growing food with diverse communities. The project is for those who are keen to grow their own food but don’t know where to begin.
Key to the project are the volunteers who work hard to keep our demonstration edible garden looking fabulous. They are on hand at our workshops and drop-in sessions to provide support and advice to people who are interested in brushing up on basic horticultural skills.
Our team of community gardeners and dedicated volunteers work hard to keep our productive gardens looking great. They are on hand at our events to provide support and advice to people who are interested in brushing up on basic horticultural skills.
From February to November the team provide weekly 'Meet the Gardener' sessions in the Demonstration Garden where members of the public can drop in for growing advice and get inspiration for their own gardens.
The Project provides opportunities for local community groups who want to grow their own food. We have a number of groups who look after their own vegetable plots in the Demonstration Garden and attend on a weekly basis to work alongside one of our community gardeners. Groups such as Garvald, Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council and TEENS+ gain practical, hands-on experience of growing vegetables and learn horticultural skills.
We deliver a range of free workshops to community garden groups. Topics include vegetable growing for beginners, composting, growing winter vegetables and organic pest and disease control.
To find out more about the People’s Postcode Lottery, visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk.
