BELVILLE Community Garden has the green light to keep on growing - thanks to a grant of almost £100,000.

The eco-friendly project has won the backing of the Big Lottery with a £90,000 grant to keep up their good work.

They will now be able to build on their food growing initiatives, cooking lessons and volunteer work.

Through their green fingered work they aim to change the lives of the people they work with, helping them to find jobs and improve their mental health.

Trustee Laura Reilly said: "This lottery grant allows us to continue day to day running of the garden.

"It means we can keep going with the things we do best from our garden club, to our volunteer work and our outreach.

"We are the first stepping stone to employment or to better mental health.

"It is why we are here."

The community garden has turned the site of the former high rise flats in to an award-winning public green space.

It is now branching out into other fields, having recently secures a tie in with Cycle UK to promote the Big Bike Revival.

Cycle UK development officer Claire Montgomery said: "It is wonderful to see what Belville Community Garden offers.

"It is a great project which we are proud to be involved in."

The team recently relaunched a 'Soup and a blether' drop-in and bike workshop.

People can bring along their bike, enjoy a free lunch and learn how to fix a puncture or get simple bike repairs for free courtesy of the Community Tracks organisation.

Belville Community Garden is funded by the Big Lottery, the Scottish Children's Lottery Fund and the Climate Challenge Fund.

Big Lottery Fund Scotland chair Maureen McGinn said: “Today we are awarding local groups, which provide great support to people facing challenging circumstances.

"These projects will help improve people's health and wellbeing, while also addressing issues which can isolate people of all ages from their wider community.”