We Have Lift Off!

We are very pleased to announce that we now have funding to create the Craigmillar Library Sensory Garden.

We have been in talks with The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit over the last few months, and they have awarded us a discrete fund to see this project come to fruition. We are very grateful to have received this money, and we are progressing with the next steps to ensure its success.

The garden at the back of Craigmillar Library is an important resource for the local community. Previously, it was used as a quiet and reflective space, as somewhere for organisations to host fun summer activities with the communities they serve, and as a public greenspace to get some fresh air, enjoy the outdoors, and even (on occasion) some sun.

However, for some time the garden has been in a state of disrepair and has been unable to be used. This year, Community Alliance Trust will be changing that. Following discussions with library staff, local organisations and people, we have agreed to turn this into a 'community sensory garden'.

A sensory garden is designed to be a relaxing and vibrant space, with plants that smell, taste and look good. Our vision is that the garden can be used by people in the library as somewhere to get away from the stresses of daily life, where people can volunteer and be connected to nature, and where organisations can run activities. 

Over the coming months, we will be designing and building the sensory garden. With funding in place, we are currently hiring a community gardener to lead this work (see our 'We Are Hiring' post), with them beginning their role at the end of March. We also have our survey live, and we would like as many people as possible to fill this out and let us know how they would like the garden to look, and what it should be used for.

Through spring and summer 2026, our new community gardener will host two weekly garden sessions, constructing raised beds, prepping the ground and planting up the sensory garden with volunteers from the community. If you would like to be involved, you can put your name and details at the end of our survey, and we will get back to you once work is underway!

We are very excited and hope you are too. Please spread the word far and wide.