October 2, 2015
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Cadets from Forres Detachment, 1st Battalion the Highlanders, took part in a conservation project at the Moray town’s Nimrod Memorial Gardens.
The gardens were created in remembrance of the seven RAF Kinloss servicemen who died when their Nimrod MK2 crashed at the Toronto Air Show in Canada in 1995.
The gardens were originally created by pupils at Applegrove Primary School. After years of disarray the Forres in Bloom community group decided to take over the maintenance and approached the Detachment in June to see if they were willing to assist.
Six Cadets, along with members of the local Scout unit and two members from Forres Tesco, worked alongside Forres in Bloom to remove long grass, weeds and other plants from the Nimrod bed, replacing it with coloured gravel.
The end result represented the red, white and blue design of the RAF’s Roundel. The group also cleaned moss from the paths and walls and cut plants back.
Forres Tesco kindly provided tea, coffee, water and biscuits for the team and Ashers the Bakers supplied hot food for lunch.
Sandra MacLennan, from Forres in Bloom, was delighted with the efforts of the Cadets.
She said: “I am really pleased to see so many young people wanting to help. I am also happy that the Cadets kept asking to help rather than being told. They even used their initiative to complete tasks without prompting.”
The Cadets who helped were: Cpl Alastair Johnston, LCpl James Calder, LCpl Jadzia Calder, LCpl Stuart Graham, Cdt Rhys Bremner and Cdt Cameron Fairclough, and they were under the adult supervision of SMI Jonathan McDonald BEM and SI Graeme Wells.
How the overgrown gardens looked before work began.
The group hard at work.
Cdt Rhys Bremner (top) and Cpl Alastair Johnston (bottom) cleaning paths.
LCpl Jadzia Calder scraping moss from the flowerbed walls.
Forres Detachment with Kinloss and Forres Scouts.
The transformation was stunning.
