TULLIBODY Healthy Living (THL) has received a grant of £4446.

The money – from Stirling-based environmental charity Forth Environmental Link (FEL), through its Central Scotland Green Network Orchard Futures Fund – will help with the creation of the Tullibody Orchard, to complement and add value to the new Tullibody Community Garden.

THL board member, Andrea Fraser, said: “The Orchard Futures Fund award means that local folk can learn to plant and care for apple, pear, plum and cherry trees.

“In the years to come even more people will get the chance to eat fresh locally produced food straight from the tree.” THL is a community-led Scottish charity and company limited by guarantee, promoting healthy living in its widest sense.

The work is delivered using a community development approach and operates within the communities of Tullibody, Cambus and Glenochil.

The orchard is now being planted with over 60 new orchard trees in six different locations within Tullibody, creating a virtual community orchard.

The sites are in the community garden, all four primary schools – Abercromby, Banchory, St Bernadettes and St Serfs – and Clackmannanshire Family Centre.

Diane Alderdice, FEL project co-ordinator, said: “We were delighted that THL has been successful in this award. This is exactly the kind of project that we were looking to fund.

“We were very impressed with their commitment to develop and diversify their business to plant an orchard with the ultimate aim of producing fruit for their own community.

“They also recognise the importance of engaging their local community, and training volunteers to enable them to cultivate and maintain the fruit in the longer-term.” The orchard will allow the sale of fresh, healthy, low-carbon local produce through the established Tullibody Fruit Barra, and increase their existing customer base by running promotional and marketing campaigns in the community.

It will look for new markets for excess produce, including community cafes, farmers markets, and make fruit products, including jams and chutneys.

The orchard will also enable the recruitment and training of local people to sustainably manage the fruit trees from establishment through to harvest and sales.