Author Archives: ggrant

Christmas Round Up

Christmas Gathering 2025

Thank you to all those that joined us for our Christmas Gathering on 30th November. Many wreaths were made and hot chocolates sipped, all whilst listening to the fabulous Edinburgh Brass Band. Together we raised an amazing £1685.48 which will go towards developing and maintaining the park over the next year.

Starbank Park Wins Award

In other news, we were delighted to recently be awarded the It’s Your Neighbourhood award 2025.

It’s Your Neighbourhood is an award managed by Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Royal Horticultural Society. The award is is designed for volunteer-led community groups which are cleaning and beautifying their neighbourhoods, whether through community allotments, after school wildlife clubs, school eco-groups, Friends of Park groups, or adopting pieces of derelict land.

Friends of Starbank Park won the award with a Level 5 – Outstanding and with a Certificate of Distinction.

Well done to all those involved for keeping the Park beautiful!

Park has final tidy before Christmas

This Saturday the volunteer group had one final tidy before Christmas, clearing the beds of old leaves and spreading a thick layer of (our very own!) compost onto the beds to suppress weeds and improve the soil.

This hard work was followed by some well deserved mulled wine and mince pies.

From all of us at Starbank, we wish our Friends, volunteers, followers, and all those that enjoy the park, a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas Gathering

Come and join us for our Christmas Gathering on 30th November, 10am-12pm.

Events taking place include wreath making (fully booked), live music, coffee, hot chocolate, mince pies, a Christmas table, Starbank calendars and cards, honey and glass painting. Members from the Edinburgh Brass Band will be playing at 11am-12pm.

Look forward to welcoming you all then!

Glorious compost!

In spring earlier this year, new composting bins were added to the back of the park, and after eight months of hard work, the compost is proving a success!

The bins are grouped in threes. The first bin contains layers of chopped up green waste (grass cuttings are very good for this), which is followed by a layer of wood chip or cardboard and then watered. The layering continues in this way. This bin is ‘turned’ every few months. This speeds up the composting process, allowing air and moisture into the compost.

Turning bin one into bin two:

After a couple of months, bin two is turned into bin three, which is where the compost becomes usable.

Good quality compost from bin three that we can use in the park:

A thanks to all the gardeners who are sorting and chopping the green waste and turning the bins.

We also have an area just for our leaf waste, seen here with gardeners boldly stamping it down to make way for more autumnal leaves!

September Events

We have not one but TWO events at the end of September! Please do join us for:

A Macmillon coffee morning on Saturday 27 September 10am-12pm

And our Doors Open Day on Sunday 28 September 12pm – 4pm

Doors Open Days is Scotland’s largest free festival that celebrates places and stories, new and old. Activities at Starbank will include:

  • Guided walks – Botany and History at 12pm and 2pm 
  • Children’s crafts
  • Chalk drawing
  • History display
  • Tea and coffee available

No booking required. For further information please visit: https://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/regions/edinburgh/starbank-park-friends-of-starbank-park

A successful Cherry Blossom Picnic!

A big thank you to everyone who came and supported the Cherry Blossom Picnic last Sunday, and to Edinburgh Brass Band for providing wonderful music. The event was extremely successful, helped by the good weather! An incredible £2,020 was raised, which will go a long way towards enabling the Friends to continue their measures to enhance and develop the Park.