Published on : Thursday, September 15, 2016
Community groups, local authorities and businesses from across Scotland gathered yesterday (Wednesday 14 September) at the Aberdeen Beach Ballroom to celebrate the 50th annual Beautiful Scotland Awards, organised by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.
The ceremony, hosted by Aberdeen City Council, recognised the hard work of communities the length and breadth of Scotland to clean up, green up and beautify the places that matter to them – including the efforts of two groups from the Scottish Borders.
Melrose in Bloom received a Gold Award. The group was also presented with the Discretionary VisitScotland Award for Tourism recognising its work in keeping the town clean, tidy and full of floral displays all year round – providing a warm welcome to visitors.
Jo Robinson, VisitScotland Regional Director for Aberdeen City & Shire, said:
“Wildlife and nature tourism is a huge draw for visitors to Scotland, both domestically and internationally, with 58 per cent of visitors to Scotland citing the country’s scenery and landscapes as their top reason for choosing Scotland as a holiday destination.
“From ensuring that the community is kept clean and tidy to the stunning, year-round, floral displays, Melrose in Bloom has done a tremendous amount of work to ensure a beautiful welcome is afforded to visitors to the town.The group is a truly worthy recipient of this year’s VisitScotland Award for Tourism.”
The other Scottish Borders award winners is:
Gala in Bloom – Silver Gilt Award
Twelve category winners, with additional Discretionary Awards and the overall Rosebowl Award, were presented at the ceremony. All entries were assessed against the three core pillars of the Beautiful Scotland campaign – Horticultural Achievement; Environmental Responsibility and Community Participation.
The full list of Beautiful Scotland Award winning groups can be found here and images of the awards can be accessed here.
The event, which brought almost 300 delegates from across Scotland together in the city to receive their awards, saw George Anderson of the BBC’s Beechgrove Garden present almost 50 accolades – recognising the significant number of entrants into the gold anniversary competition.
Derek Robertson, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, commented:
“I would like to congratulate all of the Beautiful Scotland 2016 award winners. Quality local environments are vital to vibrant communities and good for business -helping to nurture respect for local places and improve wellbeing.
“All our Beautiful Scotland entrants have committed a lot of their own time and energy to make sure that Scotland’s outdoor spaces are kept clean, green and beautiful. The Beautiful Scotland awards ceremony provides the opportunity to showcase the role that they have played in making a difference. It is vital that we reward their efforts and celebrate their achievements.”
Beautiful Scotland is managed by Keep Scotland Beautiful, a member of the RHS Bloom Federation. Entrants are judged by a team of expert volunteer judges on their year-round achievements.Awards are presented to a range of local authorities and communities who have achieved the highest scores in their categories, with Discretionary Awards given to those who demonstrate excellence in their commitment to the campaign. Some of the winners will go on to represent Scotland in UK RHS Britain in Bloom in 2016.
The Aberdeen awards ceremony was supported by Aberdeen Inspired and sponsored by Balmoral Group Holdings Ltd and Amberol Ltd.
Source:- Visit Scotland
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