South Ayrshire Council News

Clootie Tree

A number of events on the theme of ‘identity and community’ were held at the Morrison Gardens Sheltered Housing Unit in Ayr throughout 2007 to mark their 21st anniversary.

To conclude the year of celebrations a Tree Dressing Ceremony, or as the residents have named it, a Clootie Tree Ceremony, took place during National Tree Dressing Week.

During 2007 strong links have been forged with Holmston Primary School and St John’s Primary School and the residents have been and will continue to work with them on part of their school curriculum ‘Citizenship in the Community’.

At the start of the year residents organised Scottish and Chinese New Year events and celebrated the differences between cultures. As the school pupils were involved it highlighted the residents work with the HUG group (Help Unite Generations) which is inter-generational, inter-community and extends to include the wider community.

One of the ideas that the children looked at was spreading good will using methods from around the world, including Chinese money envelopes, Tibetan prayer flags and the Scottish Clootie Tree.

The children and residents created their own flags and envelopes to dress their tree and invited their guests for the ceremony to bring their own flag or message to tie to a tree at the entrance to Morrison Gardens. The list of people attending really reflected the involvement of the whole community, it included representatives from several religious denominations, Strathclyde Police, Neighbourhood Watch, Craigie Community Association, North Ayr Community Council, Councillors and Officers of the Council.

The last flag to be placed on the tree was a Saltire, which was particularly significant as the ceremony took place on St Andrews Day. The honour of hanging the last flag went to Councillor Margaret Toner, Depute Leader of South Ayrshire Council and Portfolio Carrier for Community Services.

Councillor Toner said: “Morrison Gardens is a community within a community and the residents have so much knowledge, skills and experience that it is great that they are passing on these skills to the younger generation. Bringing people of different ages together brings benefits to everyone. The Clootie Tree is amazing and the flags and messages that were placed on it are very attractive, but it is the uniting of communities across the globe that they symbolise that is very important. Everyone has worked very hard I would like to thank the children, residents and staff who have excelled themselves with this innovative project.

After the ceremony guests, school children and residents enjoyed Scottish themed refreshments in the communal lounge at Morrison Gardens.

The Tree Dressing ceremony was the final event in a series for the ‘Art in yer Face, Art in yer Place, Art in yer Space: Celebrating North Ayr 2007’ project that was delivered by Living Arts Scotland Ltd, in conjunction with Council school and sheltered housing staff.