Mosaic Workshop for Stirling Pride

This collaborative artwork was created during a workshop led by Creative Stirling and artist Lou Carberry in partnership with St Ninians Library to celebrate Stirling Pride 2025. The mosaics were crafted by workshop participants and members of the Friends of the Mayfield community group, built on wooden bases kindly made by Forth Valley Men’s Shed and enriched with found objects donated by library customers. Archaeologist Dr Murray Cook also contributed fascinating artefacts from local excavations, including a fragment of the historic Stirling City Wall. Alongside the making, Lou Carberry shared an engaging talk on the history of the LGBTQ+ movement in Scotland, inspiring reflection and pride within the creative process.

The artwork will be on display at the Youth Space, upstairs in Made in Stirling as part of the Pride celebrations and later re homed in the Mayfield Community Centre.

Wanted! Bits and Bobs

To celebrate Stirling Pride this September, Stirling Libraries and Creative Stirling will be running a mosaic workshop on Saturday 13th September in St Ninians Library between 10-11.30. Artist Lou Carberry will talking through the history of LGBTQ+ people in Scotland since legislation and then working with participants to make a mosaic for The Mayfield Secret Garden. We are asking for found objects from the community to be included in the mosaic which can be donated at the library ahead of the workshop.

Veg Ledges for the Secret Garden

Members of Friends of the Mayfield group went along to the RHS and TCV event held at the Green Space this Thursday. We learned about how we can use small spaces such as these beautiful hand-crafted veg boxes made by the FV Men’s Shed, to grow flowers and vegetables.

The wood for the boxes had been treated so was carefully lines using a liner so as not to contaminate the veg. Boxes were filled with peat-free compost, using our fingers to separate clumps and bumped against the table to knock out air pockets.

Using our knuckles to make gentle indentations for the seeds and gently pinching the soil together afterwards. Each box has three different types of veg.

We then had some fun decorating them.

Gifts from the RHS.

A big thank you to Mo from RHS, Krissy from TCV and the FV Men’s Shed. We can’t wait for our first harvest.

Veg Ledges with TCV and RHS Thursday 5th June

Braehead Community Garden Plant Sale

This morning the library hosted another plant sale from our friends down at Braehead Community Gardens.

Friends of the Mayfield purchased some pollinators with money donated by customers who came along to the Kate McLelland Art Workshop which will be planted out tonight during the monthly meet-up.

Kate McLelland Illustrator Workshop

As part of Stirling Libraries Off the Page festival, the library hosted an art workshop with the wonderful Author and Illustrator Kate McLelland. The sold-out workshop was aimed at children aged 6-9 with ticket sales going to the Mayfield Secret Garden. The theme of the event was Scottish Wildlife and the children contributed to a collaborative mural. Participants took home some of Kate’s artwork as well as their new drawings and a Friends of the Mayfield pin badge.

Sunflowers with The Conservation Volunteers

During the Easter holidays, we were lucky enough to be joined by Krissy from The Conservation Volunteers who held a family indoor planting session. We got some top tips for planting Sunflowers, Nasturtiums and Poppies. The children planted some to take home and some for the Mayfield Secret Garden.

Leftover compost and seeds from the event were used by a class visit from St Ninians Primary. The class decorated the pots and took them away to look after them for their school fete plant stall.

Maker Space

Friends of the Mayfield were invited up to the Maker Space for a quick tour and an opportunity to make signs for the garden. A big thank you to Lauren who kindly showed us how to set up the laser cutter and print onto slate we collected from the Reuse Hub. These signs will be used to help identify plants in the Mayfield Secret Garden.

Stirling Libraries Maker Space is situated in Bannockburn Library and has a wide range of equipment and tools including 3D printers, a laser cutter, CNC machine and much more. The space is open to the public on Monday and Friday mornings

Memories Scotland Planting Session

We held an indoor planting session with our Memories Scotland reminiscence group in November 2024. In this session we planted spring bulbs with some winter pansies on top (something for now and something for later). We discussed memories of the garden and identified herbs that had been donated by a member of the community garden. The group took a pot home and left one each for the Mayfield Secret Garden.

Wildflower Meadow Planting With the Butterfly Conservation

As part of Green Libraries week, the library worked in partnership with the Butterfly Conservation to plant wildflower seeds on the meadow beside the Mayfield Community Centre.

We were joined by pupils from St Ninians Primary and Borestone Nursery. Alice from the Conservation shared information about the pollinators we were planting and how they would benefit the wildlife.