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Pollok Grows Together

During 2024-25, Eco Drama collaborated with community members and organisations in Pollok, Glasgow, to plant a Community Orchard on the land opposite Pollok Community Centre.

Project Summary

During 2024-25, supported in part by the Glasgow Communities and Place fund, we collaborated with community members of all ages in Pollok, plus orchard specialists, to design and plant Pollok’s first community orchard. We also supported the planting of 21 School Orchards across Glasgow, and 10 fruit trees in local gardens. Eco Drama led on the creative engagement, engaging children and their communities through our unique arts-based approach. Since then, we have nurtured and grown a core group of committed Orchard Volunteers that tend and care for the trees, and support the delivery of creative community engagement events.

Creative Engagement

In 2024, Eco Drama’s production The Forgotten Orchard and creative workshops engaged local children with Scotland’s rich orchard heritage, culminating in a showcase at the Community Orchard Planting Event. During 2025-26, Drama and Visual Artists led creative residencies in local schools, themed around heritage fruit and seasonal orchard rituals. Children’s performances and art work were featured at the 2025 Harvest Festival, Summer Picnic and Winter Wassailing events. During 2026-27, the community benefitted from a Blossom event and Summer Picnic. The Orchard Volunteers and community are currently creating the ‘Pollok Community Orchard Cookbook’ and a custom designed orchard bench.

Community Involvement

There are 22 heritage apple, pear, plum and cherry trees planted in Pollok Community Orchard, plus various fruit bushes. 10 fruit trees were gifted to Pollok residents to plant in their gardens. The current programme of events centred around the Orchard from 2024 – 2027, have been shaped with the community. Aswell as creative events, we host Orchard Pruning & Aftercare Workshops, led by experienced horticulturists The Appletreeman. We host monthly Orchard Volunteer meet-ups, to tend and care for the trees and support the delivery of community events. All welcome.

Get Involved

There are lots of events and activities happening in the orchard – open to all!
1) Monthly Orchard Volunteer Meet-Ups – usually on Saturdays in the orchard.
2) Blossom Event at the Pollok Kite Festival ~ 24th May 2026. Storytelling and orchard themed arts & crafts.
3) Summer Picnic ~ 18th July 2026. Facepainting, crafts, bird food making, free food, storytelling and more!
4) Create Pollok Community Orchard Cookbook & Orchard Bench – various sessions in autumn 2026.
5) Pests & Diseases Workshop ~ October 2026 and Pruning Workshop ~ January 2027 (dates TBC).

To get involved, volunteer or find out more about the events/activities in the orchard, please contact Suzanne Prak-Sandilands, Schools & Communities Project Manager: suzanne@ecodrama.co.uk.

Gallery

Swipe or scroll across for more images. Click to enlarge.

Child in blue outdoor wear digs with a shovel while looking intensely into the hole. Eco Drama Pollok Grows Together.A person with a great bushy beard points to the map of the Pollok Community Orchard while a young child stares directly into the lens.Smiling child wearing a blue jumper with stars with star face paint operates the handle of the apple pressWoman wearing blue jumper, black trousers and a grey bobble hat kneels down next to a shovel and looks towards the camera with a neutral expression while another person wearing brown trousers, grey socks, black boots and a black jacket digs a hole in the grass in the background. Eco Drama Pollok Grows TogetherPoster with an illustration of a red apple, asking "Have you tasted the discovery apple?"A woman and a man present a map of the area and where the various types of trees will be planted to an audience outside the Pollok Community Centre. Eco Drama Pollok Grows Together.Young boy wearing a blue star-quilted jacket peers curiously into a black planter next to the planted saplings.Child uses a wooden implement to push apples into the apple press under the supervision of an adult while two other girls observe.Pupils from St Marnock's on stage for their performance at Pollok Grows Together. They are pointing out to the audience and laughing heartily off stage.Pollok Grows Together apple tasting station with discovery apple sign.Empty wire cages standing ready in the field.Hands tying the sprig of the tree to a wooden pole. Eco Drama Pollok Grows TogetherChild with rainbow face paint on their forehead smiling using craft supplies to make an apple monster.Women wearing blue jumper and black jacket gently smiles while looking down and holding a baby with short black hair, purple quilted jacket and puzzled facial expression.Children gazing at the planting of the trees with curiosity.Women in blue jacket smiling holding a mallet on top of a wooden pole.An audience looks on while a man wearing traditional Scottish dress, including a kilt, plays the bagpipes.In a field, one woman bends holding a hammer about to use it drive a wooden pole into the ground while two other women consult a clipboard. Eco Drama Pollok Grows Together.A group picture of some of the attendants of the Pollok Grows Together planting day. There is an air of joy and community.A woman and man stand together smiling amogst a crowd at a community harvest festival eventA man sits with his two children on his lap. They are colouring in as a family at a harvest festival eventChild with brown hair and blue jumper playfully holds the end of a red pen to her closed eye and pretends to draw with it on the nose of a man with stubble and a grey hat who has scrunched up his face.Man in black jacket with short brown hair looking at a black and white drawing of a tree with orange and red pieces of paper shaped like apples attached.A crowd gathered around in a field waiting in anticipation for the long red ribbon to be cut.
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The Story of
Pollok Community Orchard

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