Blooming marvellous — that’s the verdict of Fifers basking in the glory of their success at this week’s Beautiful Scotland Awards.
The region has been declared the most beautiful in Scotland after scooping more awards than any other part of the country.
From Aberdour to St Andrews and in many places in between, judges were impressed with the hard work of community groups dedicated to cleaning up, greening up and beautifying the places that matter to them.
The efforts of 13 community groups across Fife were hailed at the 50th annual awards, organised by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.
Among the winners at the ceremony at Aberdeen’s Beach Ballroom were Freuchie in Flower, which received a Gold Award.
The group was also presented with the Discretionary New Entrant Award recognising the villagers’ enthusiasm for taking pride in their local environment, innovation and commitment to community environmental projects.
St Andrews in Bloom also received a Gold Award and was presented with the Discretionary Wright Sustainability Award for its work with the St Andrews Links Trust to sustainably manage its seven golf courses, important wildlife and habitat and the natural landscape.
The other Fife Gold Award winners were Beautiful Kilconquhar, which was also the overall winner of the Wee Village category; Cupar in Bloom; Dunfermline Delivers, which was also the BID category overall winner; Growing Kirkcaldy, also Small City category overall winner; Inverflora and St Andrews BID.
Silver Award winners were Dunfermline in Bloom,. Kinghorn in Bloom, Leslie Community Trust and Low Valleyfield.
The results were applauded by north east Fife MSP Willie Rennie, who said: “Fife blossomed at these national awards with prizes galore from St Andrews in the east to Low Valleyfield in the west, from small villages like Kilconquhar to cities like Dunfermline.”
He added: “These awards confirm what we all knew – that Fife is the most beautiful part of Scotland.
“They had a great canvass on which to paint but it is the local people active in their communities that deserve the enormous credit and our admiration.
“It not only makes our area a lovely place to live but ensures that visitors can enjoy what we have too.”
Mr Rennie now intends to table a motion in the Scottish Parliament to mark the achievements of communities across Fife.
