Planter Building Workshop at Bonnybridge Community Hub
On the sunny Monday morning of the 17th November 2025, FEL helped Bonnybridge Community Hub host their first ever Community Planter Builder workshop, led with the expertise of local volunteer Barry Gibb.
The day started off with some shared conversations over some lovely vegetable soup made by the catering team at the Forth Valley College, about the plans for the day. Morag showed everyone how to safely lift heavy materials and gave out protective gloves and glasses. Barry and Claire, two hardworking garden volunteers showed everyone the different types of planters they had researched and the showed us pictures of the ideas they had. These were amazing, with some being wheelchair accessible. We decided that we would begin by building a L shaped wooden planter with a bench build in around it, to make gardening easier for anyone with mobility issues.
This proved to be quite difficult however with Barry’s expertise the foundations were laid down and construction begun! We also had some volunteers tending to the strawberry plants, tidying them up and replanting some. The garden was a busy hive of workers, with jobs being done and volunteers chatting and sharing gardening tips. We also build up some garden furniture for the community gardens new shed. We picked some Scotch Bonnet Chili Peppers from Bonnybridge Community Hubs poly tunnel to take home and try also!
FEL Scotland’s new energy team members, Joe and Abijith were also at the event to talk to the visitors of the centre about ways they can reduce their energy bills and stay warm over winter. For any questions regarding this or to receive free, personalised energy advice please contact Energy@FELscotland.org.
One volunteer, Claire, said that she aims to make the garden an inclusive space that inspires a new generation of growers. If you are interested in volunteering in the garden at Bonnybrige Community Hub, please contact Food@felscotland.org.
The event was a great success with a number of volunteers building, planting and connecting in the garden! We didn’t manage to finish off the planter given the limited time however Barry is planning on doing the finishing touches and we will share this as soon as its finished! The volunteers have some great plans for building some more planters as the garden grows, if you or your organisation or school wish to do some growing or building, please get in touch!
