Braes High School, in Falkirk, is helping to feed the community with fresh food grown by students in the school’s newly built Polycrub.
The first harvest at the Polycrub was celebrated at a launch event last week where guests were served tomato pizzas and beetroot brownies made from vegetables grown inside the structure.
The Polycrub was built after the school secured funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, and students have been keen to get involved with growing fruit and vegetables.
Braes High celebrates completion of the polycrub
The Polycrub has been in the works since 2019. Braes Polycrub Project focuses on the principles of ‘plough to plate’ and ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and is a sustainable resource for the Braes community.
A spokesperson from the school told the Falkirk Herald: ‘The launch is a celebration of the hard work of our pupils, staff and fantastic community partners such as Cams Construction who built the Polycrub tunnel free of charge.’
The school is currently underway in introducing a National Certificate in an Introduction to Horticulture at SCGF Level 4.
The students have also been working with a local artist to design recipe cards for their ‘Braes Fresh’ boxes. The boxes will include a recipe card and produce from the Polycrub and will be given to families in the Braes High community.
They are now looking for members of the Braes community with an interest in planting and growing to get involved with the Polycrub Project.
What is a polycrub?
The Polycrub was invented in Shetland and was designed and produced by a local community development company using recycled pipe from dismantled salmon farms. It has structural accreditation, so its designs are subject to copyright, and the name is trademarked.
The meaning behind the name Polycrub can be understood when it is broken down. ‘Poly’ comes from the polycarbonate covering used on the structure, and a ‘crub’ in Shetland is a sheltered growing area.
Funding for the Polycrub at Braes High was secured from the National Lottery Community Fund. According to the website, the school was awarded £9,503 in funding in October 2020.
The Community Fund stated that the funding would ‘enable the school to purchase equipment to support their outdoor food growing activities.’ This has certainly been the case, as the school now have over 20 different vegetables, fruits, and herbs growing in the Polycrub.