Two Aberdeen City Council officers are giving talks tomorrow (July 1) at the UK’s biggest flower show.
Sandy Scott, Aberdeen City Council Parks and Countryside Officer, and Ian Talboys, Countryside Officer, have been invited to this year’s Hampton Court Flower Show by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) as part of the RHS Hub programme of talks.
They will be delivering two presentations on the recent environmental improvements to the East Tullos Burn. The burn was re-engineered into a more naturally meandering course with ponds and wetlands created to reduce the flooding risk at periods of high rainfall. These improvements have brought a tremendous amount of biodiversity into what was an area of ‘green desert’.
The community of Torry was involved in developing the project which has made the St Fitticks Park a more interesting and colourful area of greenspace on their doorstep.
Communities, Housing and Infrastructure Convener Councillor Neil Cooney said: “The environmental improvements to East Tullos Burn have been really appreciated in the local community and people were really appreciative of the work carried out to transform the area around the burn.
“It is good our officers have been chosen to give presentation on the project to people from around the country at Hampton Court.”
Mr Scott said: “It is a great honour and privilege to be invited to speak at the Hampton Court Flower Show, the biggest flower show in the UK.
“The presentation on the East Tullos Burn is the only one from Scotland on a six day programme which includes talks about RHS holidays in China and South Africa, South West in Bloom, Garden Design and Growing Your Own Cocktails. We will be flying the flag for Aberdeen and the rest of Scotland at the show.”
The East Tullos Burn project was made possible with funding from Total E&P UK Ltd, Aberdeen Greenspace Trust, Aberdeen Forward, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, NE Scotland Biodiversity Action Partnership and Aberdeen City Council.