An apple a day…..

As part of our ongoing Heritage Project, Wednesday 31st July saw the Parklea community come together to plant an additional 26 trees in our apple orchard.

Our heritage project, ‘Looking to the past - Linking to the future’, is looking back through the history and heritage of the area and what it means to the clients and local community.

Dating back to 1740, the region east of Newark Castle was once filled with market gardens for nearly a century. These gardens cultivated fruits, including apples, pears and plums, that were then shipped up the Clyde to be sold at the market via steamboat. It all came to an end with the introduction of the train in 1841.

Our goal is to establish a flourishing orchard, planted with heritage varieties that date back over 100 years, that will remain a part of Parklea for future generations. 26 old Scottish varieties such as Cutler Grieve, Lass O Gowrie and even Bloody Ploughman were planted to add to the 30 trees that are already in place from 2023.

We had over 20 staff, clients and volunteers come together in the orchard, together with friends from the Inverclyde Community Food Network. It was a great, fun filled day and even the sun shone for us. Everyone got to personalise a tag and number their tree.

We also managed to include a workshop on pond maintenance including learning about pond plants.

More images from throughout the day can be viewed in our Gallery.

This has been made possible with funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.