A blue sky day greeted the enthusiastic gardeners gathered on the land adjacent to Hobart Street in Craigshill.

The concept of an orchard had been muted for a while but only came to fruition as part of Almond’s 30th anniversary and its contractor community benefits scheme.

The Hobart Street Community Orchard involved four of Almond’s contractors. Krinkels (formerly Continental) and Response Building Maintenance Services (Scotland) Ltd, which have both worked with Almond for many of its 30 years, provided the trees (37 in total, a mix of predominantly apple with some pear and plum), McTaggart Group which came along on the day with a rather useful hole boring machine plus three members of staff to help out, and Almond Enterprises Ltd who donated manpower.

In addition, there were colleagues from Almond, including the chief executive, John Davidson and director of asset management, Iona Taylor, who were both put to work.

Children also came along from Lytham & Riverside Primary School and Howden St Andrew Primary School, all under the watchful eye of the Growing Together project team, led by David Tatton.

Mr Tatton explained: “Local people had been telling us for a while that they would love to have a community orchard and having scoped various plots of land owned by Almond Housing Association, we felt that the ground just along from the Hobart Street Community Garden would work really well.

“The trees were a lot bigger than we expected, which is actually quite beneficial because they have a good chance of bedding in successfully and maybe even bearing some fruit this year.”

The area will be maintained as part of Almond’s landscape contract, with trees having been placed a reasonable distance apart to ensure easy access for the lawn mower. There is no intention to install any furniture at the site, although some signage will be fitted for easy identification of the trees.

“As the local housing association, we want to help wherever possible to enrich the areas in which our tenants live. We hope the local community will embrace and take care of the orchard.  We look forward to watching it blossom and of course, we can’t wait to eat some fruit!” said John Davidson, Almond’s CEO.

Ross Hammell, corporate social responsibility manager for McTaggart, added: “McTaggart is delighted to support the new orchard initiative.  It’s a great example of how McTaggart and Almond can work together to enhance the local area and support our two organisations’ carbon reduction ambitions.”