Welcome to our SPOTLIGHT feature!
Our first SPOTLIGHT is on the Arbroath Pippins.
The Arbroath Pippins began as a group of friends feeling concerned with the current crisis, wanting to 'come up with a helpful solution to benefit their community'.
They felt it was 'time for the growing and sharing of food', and their vision was to plant an Orchard in the Springfield Park as part of a free food initiative.
If you are not familiar with Arbroath, then the Springfield Park area originally belonged to the Abbey and is where the Monks once grew the Oslin Apple (Arbroath Pippin) some 700 years ago. In fact the Arbroath Pippin is one of Scotland's oldest apple varieties!
Along with providing a source of free food, the group also envisioned these orchards as providing a welcoming community space which could be used for gatherings over the season; summer picnics & fruit harvesting, as well as bringing an opportunity to teach.
Since the planting of their first 4 apple trees in 2020 in Springfield Park, the Arbroath Pippins have planted many more trees, spreading across Arbroath and creating 3 orchards in total! (the 2 other orchards being at Keptie Pond and Hospitalfield Meadow )
Amongst these apple trees you will find the Arbroath Pippin, as a nod to its history, along with many other local varieties such as the Golden delicious and Cox.
All of this has been made possible with the permission of the Angus Council Parks Department, funding Sources and of course the hard work of the volunteers.
The Angus Climate Hub provided some recent funding for the Arbroath Pippins to plant over 30 apple trees, which the group recently added to their Springfield Orchard. You can see the action in the photo's below!
We can't wait to visit in warmer weather and see how the orchards bloom! Why don't you go along too?
All photos have been provided by Arbroath Pippins
SPOTLIGHT FEATURE - There's a lot happening around Angus where people are getting together and doing great things with and for their community. We want to shine a SPOTLIGHT , sharing and celebrating what is happening in the wider community. We hope this may inspire you to get involved, connect with others, learn a new skill or even set up your own group!