“If there’s nae joy, there’s nae point” – how gnomes are bringing people together for good in Scotland
Meg O'Neill is Head of Movement Building at The Climate Coalition, based in Glasgow. During Great Big Green Week she visited communities across Scotland - and came home with a gnome.
Great Big Green Week looks different everywhere you go. In Falmouth, it was snorkel safaris and basking shark processions. In Chichester, an 8ft puppet handing out dandelions. And in Forth, a small village in South Lanarkshire, it was garden gnomes.
Being based in Glasgow, I had the privilege of visiting just some of the brilliant events that took place across Scotland this year - a Botanical Blether and community stalls with Hub@531, a day of community energy storytelling with Take One Action Film Festival and The Crannie, and Friends of the Earth Scotland's Defend the Defenders fundraising gig in Glasgow. And of course, garden gnomes in Forth.
Gnomes coming Together for Good in Scotland. Credit: Forth Community Resource Centre
"Chelsea had just gone - gnomes were the only choice!"
When I spotted Forth Community Resource Centre's event on the Great Big Green Week map, simply titled "Join our garden gnomes", I knew I couldn't miss it. Armed with a cup of coffee, a biscuit, and more paint than I knew what to do with, I sat down with Anne, one of the FCRC team, to make my very own gnome - and to hear about the extraordinary community at the heart of their work. Around us, volunteers and community members were doing the same - painting, chatting, laughing.
The gnomes got people through the door. But it's what FCRC has been quietly building for years that makes people want to stay. And they're not alone - across the UK, 10,000 events like this one brought more than 1.6 million people together this year.
Getting started with gnome painting. Credit: Forth Community Resource Centre
A garden born from grief and hope
The story of FCRC's Gateway Community Garden begins in 2000, when a small group came together to transform a neglected patch of land at the side of the main road through Forth - previously the site of a war memorial, then used as a dumping ground for tar and stones from local roadworks. They built raised beds, added a slabbed seating area, carved wooden signs and planted flowers along the borders.
Then Covid came. And something unexpected happened.
People started walking to the garden for some peace and quiet. They began leaving painted stones - first with words of inspiration, then with the names of people they had lost. The garden became a place of remembrance, of community and of quiet hope. The group responded by designing and carving stones inscribed with the world symbols for Peace, Hope and Friendship, which now sit permanently in the raised bed for anyone who passes to enjoy.
It is a garden that belongs to everyone.
Forth Gateway Community Garden. Credit: Forth Community Resource Centre, sculptures by local artist Susheila Jamieson.
"If there's nae joy, there's nae point"
When I asked Anne why gnomes to celebrate and bring more people into the Gateway Project, her answer was immediate.
"If there's nae joy, there's nae point."
And there it is. The whole spirit of Great Big Green Week in six words.
Because that's what Great Big Green Week is really about - not just climate action in the abstract, but the joy of doing something good together. Through botanical blethers and basking sharks, through gigs and film screenings, through garden gnomes on a rainy afternoon in Forth. When communities come together for good, something shifts. Garden gnomes in South Lanarkshire. Snorkel safaris in Falmouth. A puppet in Chichester. All of it, together, becoming something none of it could be alone.
"Gerry the Gnome" has brought me a lot of joy. Credit: Forth Community Resource Centre
For Anne and the team - and the volunteers and community members who showed up on that rainy afternoon - Great Big Green Week was the perfect moment to celebrate what they'd built and welcome more people into it.
Great Big Green Week will be back - and we'd love you to be part of it
Great Big Green Week returns in June 2027. And as Anne would say - if there's nae joy, there's nae point. We think there'll be plenty! Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about what's coming and how you can get involved in climate and nature action.