First Minister visits Blairgowrie and Rattray Development Trust

Date: Thursday 28 August

John Swinny MSP, centre, with volunteers and staff from Blairgowrie and Rattray Development Trust and Rattray Community Garden. Image courtesy of Clare McMicking / CraicN Communications

First Minister of Scotland and local MSP John Swinney visited Blairgowrie and Rattray Development Trust (BRDT) last week, meeting with volunteers and staff and learning more about the work the Trust is undertaking in Perthshire’s largest town. 

During his visit, Mr Swinney enjoyed a tour of Rattray Community Garden, which was officially opened earlier this summer, and heard about some of BRDT’s other core projects including the BaRI Food Project, which aims to reduce food waste and costs and encourage the growing of more food locally, the Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT) Project, Biodiversity Blair, the community-run public toilets, Booklore, the Discover Blairgowrie website, the Hub Magazine, and BRDT’s support of local community groups and organisations.

Mr Swinney said: “I was delighted to meet with representatives of the Blairgowrie and Rattray Development Trust to hear about the wide range of positive projects they are delivering across the town. 

“The Trust is a fantastic organisation that consistently works to enhance the local area and strengthen our community. Their commitment, vision and the dedication of its members make a real difference to people’s lives here in Blairgowrie and Rattray.”

Describing the community garden as a “revelation”, he continued: “It was a real pleasure to visit Rattray Community Garden and spend time with staff and volunteers. The garden is a brilliant local asset that gives people the chance to learn new skills, enjoy the outdoors and socialise with others. 

“Spaces like this play such an important role in building community spirit, improving wellbeing and creating opportunities for people of all ages to come together.”

As well as showcasing the work that BRDT is doing in Blairgowrie and Rattray, the team stressed to the First Minister the importance of development trusts in supporting the work of the Scottish Government. 

Chair of BRDT Linda Tait said: “As outlined in our recent Local Place Plan for Blairgowrie and Rattray, community-led regeneration is at the heart of everything we do. 

“Over a number of years now, BRDT has grown into a highly respected community-led organisation that delivers a huge amount of support to residents of the largest town in Perth and Kinross. 

“Securing funding is crucial to ensuring that BRDT is in a position to be able to continue working in collaboration with others to build a strong community-led place and to deliver essential projects that support Scottish Government policies and achieve goals such as creating a sustainable local economy, helping to eradicate child poverty, delivering sustainable public services including social care, community and mental health projects, and tackling the climate emergency.

 “We were therefore delighted that Mr Swinney was able to meet with us at Rattray Community Garden and see for himself some of the work that we are doing and how it benefits the local community here, and how it is supportive of Scottish Government’s initiatives around place, community care, social care and developing the local economy, and would like to thank him for his time.

 “Thank you also to the volunteers who came along and talked about how their work supports BRDT and for the very informative tour of Rattray Community Garden.”

 

For further information on BRDT and its work, see www.brdt.org.uk

For further information or media enquiries, please contact Clare McMicking on telephone 07514 343 042 or email media@brdt.org.uk 

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