Horticulture students partner with Hillwood Community Sports Hub

Our horticulture students are working with Hillwood Community Sports Hub to turn a man-made and un-aesthetic hill into a sea of beautiful shrubs and trees. 

It’s hoped that the students will be able to help enhance the facility, which will open it up to the wider community, so they can see that it is more than a football ground.

Willie Smith, founder of the Hillwood Boys Club football team and the sports hub, commented, “People will now have a place to walk around which they will enjoy looking at, especially in the summer months."

The students have measured up the space and will draw up their plans for the space, and Willie will select the design which will be put in place.

Michelle McGuire, curriculum manager for horticulture and floristry at the college said: “It is a great thing for the community and if we can pretty up the space a wee bit and make it feel a bit more welcoming, that would be wonderful.”

This is a partnership which not only benefits the community, but the live project also means that the students gain real-life work experience.

The students began working with the sports hub last year and planted 80kg of daffodils around the grounds. 

Image by Colin Mearns, Newsquest, depicting Michelle McGuire, horticulture students, Willie Smith, Grant Findlay (horticulture lecturer) and Hillwood Community members.