We have completely transformed an NHS hero's garden after she was nominated by neighbours in our Gardens For Guardians campaign.

Annie Haslam, who is married with two teenage children, was chosen as a winning finalist because of her amazing work as a Senior Charge Nurse at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, where she helps manage 11 operating theatres.

Our picture above shows Annie and Greenbelt’s Managing Director Colin Thomson in her new garden.

We set up the free garden upgrade campaign to say thank you to the wonderful and courageous NHS employees who’ve been helping the UK stay safe throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Annie, who’s worked for the NHS for 29 years and lives in Greenbelt’s Mid Duloch development in Calais Muir, Dunfermline, says: “We’ve lived in Mid Duloch for 17 years and the best thing about it is the neighbours and friends we’ve met here. It’s a close-knit community, with many having moved in from the start as we did.

“The results of Greenbelt’s garden makeover are just stunning. The beautiful newly laid lawn and low maintenance choice of shrubs and plants finishes it off perfectly. We cannot express our thanks enough to Greenbelt and the great team who did the work.

“They finished it in less than a week, working through some horrendous weather on a couple of days and have done a great job. It has turned a space we didn’t use into somewhere we’ll now spend a lot of time as a family but also with our great neighbours as restrictions ease.”

Greenbelt Managing Director Colin Thomson said: “As a business we’ve lots of exciting developments, such as our Green Strategy and Pentad model, but right now we wanted to show our heartfelt appreciation to our NHS heroes.

“We’re delighted we’ve been able to give Annie a relaxing, beautiful, green space where she and her family can fully enjoy all of the immense benefits of the great outdoors.”

Annie has a message for her neighbours too: “We’re just so grateful for their thoughtful nomination and what it’s led too. We look forward to inviting them all round when we can to celebrate this amazing thing they’ve done for us.

“And, finally, thank you again to Greenbelt. It was a very generous prize to offer and really nice to know the NHS is appreciated so much. It will make a hugely positive impact. They have been amazing throughout and so has everyone we’ve dealt with from start to finish.”

You can meet our second Gardens For Guardians winner later this week.

Meantime, you can also find out about our important community work, especially our exciting partnership with a charity that’s very close to our hearts, Marie Curie.