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The Queen yesterday (Wednesday July 6) officially opened Slessor Gardens in Dundee, which includes a project that was one of the first beneficiaries of Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme in Scotland.
Slessor Gardens runs from Dundee’s Caird Hall down to the edge of the River Tay, next to the new Victoria & Albert Design Museum. It will provide an event space for concerts, exhibitions and markets and has been named after the Dundee missionary Mary Slessor.
Part of the development includes a garden created by Bonnie Dundee, which was awarded £12,000 in the first round of Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme.
Under this initiative, the supermarket chain awards grants of £12,000, £10,000 or £8,000 to local projects. The Bags of Help funding comes from money raised by the government’s 5p bag charge.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh met members of the team who delivered the project, before unveiling a plaque to commemorate the official opening of Slessor Gardens.
Keith Davis, store manager of Tesco’s Dundee Kingsway store, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success across Scotland, England and Wales. To have the royals see first-hand the benefits of the Bags of Help initiative is absolutely fantastic. Tesco colleagues and those directly involved in the project are thrilled with the visit.”
Tesco ceo of UK & ROI Matt Davies commented: “It’s great that so many colleagues in Dundee and across the country are getting behind the Bags of Help scheme – helping to put customers’ donations towards local projects. This is one of the first projects to reach completion and I’m sure we’ll see many thousands more in the months ahead across the whole of the country. What makes this special is that it’s a project chosen by people working and living in the local community.
“Bags of Help only started last October across Scotland, England and Wales and our customers have already donated money to over 1,100 projects. Through the support of colleagues, we hope to help thousands more in the future.”
