Pupils Craft Christmas at Beechgrove Gardens

Pupils from Westhill Primary School made a visit to Beechgrove Gardens to take part in the creation of the long-running TV show’s Christmas specials.

The show has been a perennial fixture on BBC Scotland since 1978.

Depute Head Teacher at the Westhill Drive school Julie Symington said so many pupils were interested in taking part that children had to apply for the opportunity.

She said: “We finally decided on four pupils to go with two members of school staff for the first day and a different four the following day for filming back in October.

“As we walked up into the garden, our P7 pupil William said it was ‘so cool and exciting to see things from the television in real life’.

“Their first filming task which was gathering different natural items like cones, holly, heather, twigs and hydrangea flowers that they would need for their Christmas craft.

“Gathering the twigs, Jessica, P6 said the colours in the garden looked like fire and classmate Logan was determined to gather the most cones - he got around 18 - but Abbie, also P6, showed her on-screen confidence by joking that she had collected way more than him, and pulled just one from her pocket.”

The children then worked with presenters Jean Johansson and Lizzie Schofield to create various Christmas decorations. 

P6 pupil Karah said: “It was really interesting to see the filming in action and learn about all of the different roles of the people involved.” 

Fellow P6 pupil James said: “It’s been great to see the Beechgrove and maybe we’ll be able to use some of the ideas back at school.” 

P7 pupil Owen thanked everyone at the garden and said if they ever need any more help - “Just give us a shout.”

Two pupils will be on each of the four different weekly programmes broadcast on BBC Scotland at 7.30pm through to December 19. 

You can also catch up on the episodes through the iPlayer.