A Greener Melrose is a community organisation in the Scottish Borders dedicated to promoting sustainability through practical initiatives that encourage collaboration and positive environmental action.
/
-
Upcoming event: Café Conversation on 12 February 2025
On 12 February we will be holding the first in a series of evening Café Conversations at Marmions in the Wynd in Melrose, starting 7pm (bar open before the event only, between 6:30 – 7:00pm).
This is a what we hope will be a welcome return to a space for us to come together as a community to discuss and learn about local green issues. If you attended our previous winter talks series, we’re hoping to bring back some of that atmosphere.
The theme for our first event is personal and group action on managing climate change. Through facilitated discussion, we’ll focus on where we as individuals and local communities can play a role. We hope that the conversation will inspire you to test and share your ideas, whatever they may be, and give you the confidence to take your own actions. You are not alone. Most big endeavours are undertaken in many small steps.
Our hope is that we will all leave the event feeling informed and empowered, and with a sense of being part of a proactive community.
We intend to hold two further events in March and April on different areas of interest – watch this space for announcements on dates and topics.
Your thoughts and suggestions through this series of conversations will give us at A Greener Melrose ideas about how we can assist our community better in the future. We hope to bring the community together later in Spring for an opportunity to reflect on conversations and to collaborate on setting priorities and identifying actions.
Please spread the word, newcomers welcome and encouraged!
We really hope you can join us for the first of our revamped series of Café Conversations on Thursday 12 February.
-
Annual General Meeting Weds 24th Sep, 2025: Reflections from a new trustee
I very much enjoyed the Annual General Meeting, and it’s not often I say that about AGMs! It confirmed for me that we have so many knowledgeable and committed people who are tirelessly contributing to building a sustainable community – and we are making a difference!
Some of the key things I took away were:
- Great quality and quantity of vegetables grown on the Drygrange plots this year
- 6,000 apples picked and 2,000 donated to the Galashiels Foodbank (2024)
- Great attendance and enthusiastic participation at the Apple Day (2024) and the Solstice celebration this year
- Borders Greenway is progressing, and getting down on the floor to talk paths with primary school children was memorable
- Crop of apples and nuts at Drygrange has been phenomenal, and remembering that this was an empty field 13 years ago – what an achievement!
- Over the years, the Cycleways group has inspired, linked with and supported lots of other groups to develop cycle path networks, such as Stow and Earlston
- Max, Nigel and others have established systems and nourished EB4B to become a flagship project for AGM
For a fuller summary of what we did in 2024-25, please refer to the Chair’s report, which you can find on the website.
A note on policies:
The AGM endorsed our policies, which you can find on our website. The AGM also agreed that we should give members an opportunity to comment before the next AGM. You can do so by via our email address: [email protected]. Please mention ‘Policy review’ in your subject line and make sure you mention which of the policies your comments refer to. Comments received by the end of December 2025 will be reviewed by Trustees and submitted to the next AGM.
Looking forwards:
We’re always keen to welcome more volunteers and support new actions to promote our vision of a thriving community in a sustainable environment in Melrose and surrounding countryside. Come and speak to us if you want to join any of our Action Groups or have a great idea and want us to help you realise it.
We also continue to build our Board of Trustees to ensure we have the range of skills and experience needed to nurture the vision and grow the impact. We welcome enquiries, so if you’d like to know more, please get in touch.
Oonagh McGarry
-
Call for Volunteers
We are currently looking for volunteers to help us with the following actions:
- e-bike change-over days, every first Sunday of the month, in Tweedbank
- organising a series of topical winter conversations
- organising conversations with young people on their hopes for a greener future
Do get in touch if you think you might be of assistance. Any commitment, however small, will be gratefully accepted.
-
Apple Days 2025
We had two successful Apple Days in September and October where lots of apples were collected for the food bank, and more still were turned into delicious juice.
We’ll be doing it all again next year so keep in touch!
