All those visiting the Gardens entering by the Main Gate are greeted by the magnificent site of the summer bedding with the backdrop of the Kibble Palace. Such a site is well known for those of us living in the West End as it has been there since the late 19th century.

As I show visitors round the Gardens I am reminded by just how rare a sight like this has become across the UK. We must value this. Those attending the city of the Commonwealth Games and visiting the Gardens will immediately experience this horticultural and historical vista.

The Gardens are now in their high summer raiment. The trees in particular have benefited from high rainfall in June and are looking less stressed than a year ago at this point in the calendar. The additional rain in late July has been beneficial for all our gardens.

Our garden guides are expecting more overseas visitors from Commonwealth countries in August. During July I was privileged to tour the Kibble with the Head Gardener from Birmingham BG and a producer from Gardeners’ Question Time and talk about the work of the Friends while presenting some of our plants from the Commonwealth.

Our programme for volunteer gardeners is now underway supervised by Billy Kenny and Nikki Newbert. After two days of hard work they have transformed the beds in front of the Main Range as well as making some improvements in the Japanese Rose Garden.

We are grateful for the hard work of the volunteers who are all CPH graduates and give their time freely .The Friends fun the cost of supervision and many of the tools required. The work will continue over the summer. After an unforseen break the trustees hope to resume the CPH course in 2027.

Vandalism and anti-social behaviour continues to be a problem in the evenings. Groups of young teenagers seem responsible. Please be assured that Andrew is in contact with GCC, Police and local MSPs. Bob Doris our local MSP has been in contact with Friends and I am due to meet him in the gardens during August.

Please remember our AGM on Monday 7th September. Our secretary, Caroline, will be sending out formal notice shortly to members. I plan to send out my annual report by email before the meeting. The trustees look forward to meeting as many members as can attend at the AGM.

This will be my final monthly report as Chair of FGBG having held the post for three years and in the six months before that working to set up the guiding group. It has been a pleasure to work with your dedicated and skilful trustees who look after the interests of our charity.

The work carried out by Gardens staff is truly inspiring and a credit to Glasgow. I am pleased to say that the trustees are standing for re-election but we continue to look for additional trustees and a replacement chair.