Media & Awards
We love spreading the word about our Croft!
Herald on Sunday: 21 Local Heroes of 2021
'The benefits that Evie Murray and Earth in Common bring to the densely populated area of Leith cannot be [overstated].'
SEPA VIBES Awards Finalist 2019
Leith Community Crops in Pots was a finalist of the Engaging Scotland category of the prestigious Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s VIBES Awards 2019.
Our Chair, Evie Murray, comments, ‘To get to the SEPA VIBES finals is a great honour, and reflects our volunteers’ and employees’ commitment to the cause of a happy, healthy, leafy Leith, and our work to promote responsible global citizenship.’
BBC - Grow It
We were featured on this programme on Radio 4. Here’s how the BBC website described it.
Nicola Singleton and the team help you make the most of your growing space – whatever shape and size it comes in – and inspire you with a weekly seasonal recipe. Today they’re off to Leith Links in Edinburgh to visit the Crops In Pots community garden. Founder Evie Murray explains how the idea of the urban croft came about and the ways in which the local community have embraced the shared growing space. Gardeners Tom and Katherine explain how they get mixed planting to work on the urban croft and why they like to encourage bees to the growing area. In this week’s seasonal recipe, chef Carina Contini shows Gillian Russell how to make a redcurrant syrup, perfect for drizzling over a simple vanilla sponge … plus gardening tips for growing and cultivating redcurrants in your own garden. Carole Baxter shows Helen Needham that’s it’s possible to grow your own citrus fruit, right here in Scotland. Tom describes the idea behind their latest garden experiment – hot composting!
This is a great concept – an urban croft where local people have taken over stewardship of the land on part of Leith links. It was fascinating getting to hang out with the inspiring team @CropsinPots for the day and make this programme.
Nature of Scotland Awards 2016/2017
Youth & Education Award 2016/2017 Winning Team, sponsored by Edinburgh University.
Scotland Land Reform Revolution
Leith Community Crops in Pots Founder is Andy Wightman’s Local Hero
The founder of a charity that organises food-growing activities to connect children with nature has been nominated as a Local Hero by Andy Wightman, Scottish Green MSP for Lothian.
Andy said:
‘My local hero is Evie Murray, founder of Leith Community Crops in Pots. Evie has done great work in schools and elsewhere with the aim of a happy, healthy, leafy Leith.
To date, the charity has planted around 40 fruit and nut trees, with a further 175 waiting in their tree nursery. In the pipeline is a programme of forest school education, a social enterprise café/farm shop, and much more. The opening ceremony of the Parliament is a reminder that Holyrood is a Parliament for the people, and I’m delighted that Evie’s good work locally will be recognised at this nationally important event.’
Other Media
Our charity stands out. Because of the work we do and the transformations we are creating in the densely populated area of Leith, we have been widely recognised. We put effort into communicating
our message and make good use of social media – because we want people to hear about what we are doing, and for them to be inspired to do something as well.
We often receive invitations to talk about our work from local and national organisations, e.g. from the Big Lottery Fund, and a more local group Common Good Food or the Lord Provost. Our founder has received additional recognition
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Quoted in the Scottish Parliament’s Holyrood magazine in June 2018 in an article titled ‘Good Food Nation – will the government step up to the plate?’: ‘People are really interested in food, but the environment doesn’t lend itself to people getting engaged and what is crucial to that is access to land within communities.’
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Chosen by Green MSP Andy Wightman as his local hero in July 2016
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Chosen for ‘Breaking the Mould’ in May 2016 as an inspirational woman in the Edinburgh and Lothian area.
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In April 2016, Scottish Green MSP Alison Johnson raised a motion in parliament about the state of food in Scotland and in it praised our food project as a model of how things can be different. Labour MSP Malcolm Chisholm also spoke at length about our ‘incredible work’.
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Featured on a Swedish ‘sustainable lives and communities’ website in January 2016
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An invitation to join an advisory group for Community TV channel programme on food-related issues in 2015
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Inspiring Volunteer of the Year award in 2014
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Independent on Sunday’s ‘Happy List’ in June 2015
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An interview in Scottish Wildlife magazine in August 2015
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In February 2015, The Leither magazine published this article by Sally Fraser. It nicely describes the benefits to children of our community growing space, Leith Community Croft, which were evident even in its early days.
