A £750 BEAR Scotland community fund donation to Hawick High School was instrumental in supporting the school’s successful bid to achieve the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Schools Gardening Award level 4. The school’s gardening focus has also seen three pupils achieve a John Muir Discovery level award by exporting their skills to a local animal sanctuary. .

The leading road maintenance company has a comprehensive CSR programme that is all about creating a positive impact on the communities in which it operates.  The request to support the school’s ongoing gardening initiative was approved and allowed the purchase of:

• A raised bed for wheelchair users
• Three planters for the sensory garden, which will be fully operational in autumn term
• Compost and linings to fill them
• Pinks, climbing plants and lilies
• Seeds and cuttings
• Wildflower seeds to allow the car park area to be replanted as a meadow in autumn

Barbara Usher, Hawick High School Teacher of Complex Needs said: “Wheelchair-users can now join more easily in the gardening with a bespoke raised bed, due to a magnificently generous £750 grant by BEAR Scotland.  Students are also using the grant to create a sensory garden.”

Marion Short, local community councillor and grandmother to one of the school’s Additional Needs Assistants, was the one who nominated the gardening project for BEAR Scotland community funding.

The BEAR donation boosted the pupils’ ongoing support from the Hawick businesses business community for their gardening efforts.

Iain Murray, BEAR Scotland managing director said: “It is important to us to develop strong links in the communities in which we operate. We had been engaging with Marion and the community council when she mentioned this great initiative. We were very happy to do what we could to support it. The RHS award is a fantastic accolade for all at the school and their hard work.”