Parks4Life is Scotland’s first ever fund for parks and greenspaces. It provides an easy way for all of us to show how much we love our parks. Managed by greenspace scotland, it aims to raise £1million this year to help support Scotland’s parks with a sustainable fund for the future.

The Parks4Life Community Fund is a joint project between greenspace scotland and MyParkScotland to offer annual grants to park and greenspace groups across Scotland. 

The opening round of the Parks4Life Community Fund opened for application in June this year for grants from £500 to £1,500 with the primary aim to support community groups to deliver on their aim in bringing their parks to life and make the best of our parks for everyone to enjoy now and in the future. 

We were delighted with the number and quality of applications to the fund and were able to offer grants to 11 projects from across Scotland, the full list of funded groups and projects is below:

Cumnock Action Plan (CAP), FAIRY & SCARY TRAIL, FUN DAY - East Ayrshire
Funding will be used to support an event held in conjunction with and as a follow on to the CAP subgroup Woodroad Park and Leisure Group Fun Day on 18th August 2024.  The project aims to encourage families and local groups to use the local park and introduce them to the woodland walk that CAP rejuvenated in 2021. This will be done via a fairy trail through the woods during 2 weeks of school holidays and prior to a special walk on 18th Aug. The scary trail will then follow a week to 10 days before Halloween.   

Eglinton Park Path Stewardship. Ongoing Core Path Stewardship - North Ayrshire
To maintain and repair the core paths within Eglinton Country Park. We survey core paths and identify areas requiring attention. This will include scraping surfaces and backfilling with hardcore materials to stabilise, installing path drains, cutting back trees, bushes and shrubs, associated litter picking, basically keeping paths clear and accessible. 

Friends Of Cambuslang Park, Family Fun Day - South Lanarkshire
Funds to support the Friends annual Family Fun Day in August. This funding will help bridge the gap in our budget, ensuring the event remains free and accessible to all, particularly benefiting residents from socio-economically challenged areas. Our initiative promotes community well-being, inclusivity, and active engagement with Cambuslang Park. This event, part of £16,000 events programme, attracts over 3,000 participants and offers a variety of free activities.

Friends of Howwood Park, Raised Beds Around Park Shelter - Renfrewshire
A few years ago, Friends of Howwood Park raised funds to have a shelter installed in Howwood Park for the public to use in the event of rain. The ground around the shelter is currently very untidy and we would like to make it more attractive. We would like to install low level raised beds made from sleepers around 3 sides of the shelter, into which we would like to plant a mixture of low maintenance evergreen shrubs and colourful flowers making sitting at the shelter more enjoyable. The shelter is located at the entrance to the park, so the attractive planted beds would be visible to all visitors coming to the park.

Kirkton Community Garden - Angus
The objective of the Kirkton Community Garden is to turn a disused uninviting space into a community garden that can be used by everyone and will enhance the local area. Funding will be used for seeds, wild plants and gardening tools. This will allow us to develop a wild meadow on the site, enhance the wildflowers in the area and get volunteers set up to take part in light gardening activities. 

Murieston Community Garden, Public Front Garden - West Lothian
Working to create a beautiful relaxing community garden for use by 6000 residents, visitors, local organisations and youth groups in Murieston (Livingston) and neighbouring areas. Convert the donated half-acre plot of rough ground into a garden with two areas: an ornate public front garden containing a sensory garden, seating, social hub, and disabled-friendly paths and a back garden for growing fruit and vegetables and to increase biodiversity and encourage wildlife.

Otter Mountain, The Wee Woodland- Phase 1 - Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
In this phase 1 of The Wee Woodland we are looking at woodland management and creating an easy access route into the woods for families. The Wee Woodland will change the way childcare is viewed in North Uist, creating a model that can be used on neighbouring islands and beyond. We will offer a service for families to play together, children to play independently and for the community as a whole to come together. We will create a dedicated space for play where families will understand their importance in our community and know that this space can adapt to their needs whilst their children grow alongside the trees.

Portlethen Moss Conservation Group, Raised Sensory Border - Aberdeenshire
To create a heavy duty raised border with sensory plants that is the right height and depth for wheelchair users, in our newly created Community Wildlife & Sensory Garden. There’s a need to have a planter right at the path edge to allow wheelchair users and vulnerable people to experience the touch and smell the sensory plants. Highly scented, tactile and colourful plants will be used to stimulate senses.

Rosemount Development Trust, Greening Royston: Provanhill Street - Glasgow
As part of this project to develop a new park on Provanhill Street in Royston, funding will be use to plant a small wildflower meadow with Royston Primary School and St. Rochs School Primary School. It will join a currently funded part of the project where the children will make bug hotels and birdboxes for permanent display in the park. 

Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH), Developing our community and wellbeing garden, Growing Chrysalis, in Dundee -  
Dundee
Located in Dawson Park in Dundee, Growing Chrysalis is SAMH’s community therapeutic and wellbeing garden. We provide a welcoming outdoor space for individuals and families to connect with nature and the outdoors, improving mental health and reducing social isolation. Funding will allow more young people from traditionally under-represented groups across the city to Growing Chrysalis and deliver an enriching programme of free events tailored to connect young people from socially deprived communities with nature and the outdoors.  

Time to Heal, Community Barbeque - Aberdeen
Our community barbecue is a social event that brings together members of a neighbourhood or community for food, fun, and fellowship at Torry Children Park in Aberdeen. It is an excellent way to strengthen community bonds, celebrate local culture, and provide a relaxed atmosphere for families and neighbours to interact.

Some projects have already delivered on their project including the Friends of Cambuslang Family Fun Day attracting 1,500 people to the park and the Portlethen Moss Conservation Group opening their Community Wildlife & Sensory Garden including the Raised Sensory Border funded through the Parks4Life Community Fund.

We intend to open the fund again in 2025…so to keep up to date about the Parks4Life Community Fund sign up to the greenspace scotland ebulletin.