News – Page 4 – Bristol Parks Forum

The State of Your Park

There are currently two surveys where you can give feedback on the state of your park.

The first is Bristol based. A Parks and Estates Satisfaction survey has gone live from today and runs for 12 weeks.

This is for all park users there will be posters and notices placed in the parks and it is also being publicised on the @BristolParks twitter feed.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/bcc-parks

The other current survey is a UK wide one aimed at Park Groups.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has commissioned a research team to gather information and prepare a draft report on the State of UK Public Parks that will be published by the HLF launched next year.

For more details about the project please visit www.stateofukparks.org.uk

As part of this the HLF are carrying out a survey of Friends and User groups across the UK asking their views on the current issues and how they may be contributing to their parks.

www.cfpuk.co.uk/stateofukparks/friendsgroup.htm

The deadline for this survy is Friday 27th September 2013

To aid completion of the survey, a reference copy can be downloaded in pdf format by clicking here.

The survey will be used to produce a report which will be a very detailed assessment on the state of the UK’s parks. It will be used to call for action from Central Government to recognise the extent of the unfolding financial crisis for green spaces, and to ensure adequate protection and resources for all our green spaces.

Guided Walks in Parks & Green Spaces

Bristol’s huge range of parks and green spaces is great to explore by yourself, but many park groups also arrange guided walks to help you find out more about the wildlife and history of the sites.

For Bristol’s large estates download a guide with details of walks and other events throughout the year:

Estates What’s On Guide

Health Walks
There are many ‘Walking for Health’ groups in Bristol and their walks often visit parks & green spaces.
There is a listing of groups with links to their programmes as well as details of regular weekly walks on the City Council website here:

Walking for Health Bristol – Led health walks

Some other walks coming soon:

Eastwood Farm Local Nature Reserve
Wild Wednesdays (just turn up, no need to book)
Wed 28th August 7.30pm – Moth hunt with Rupert Higgins
Wed 25th September 7.30pm – Owl Prowl with Ian McGuire
See www.eastwoodfarm.org.uk

Kings Weston Estate
Walks organised by Kings Weston Action Group (booking required)
Saturday 31st August 10.15am – Tree walk with Richard Bland
Download a poster with more details or see www.facebook.com/KingsWestonActionGroup

Stoke Park
A series of walks with Steve England (booking required)
Wednesday 28th August 6:30 pm – Evening Archaeology Walk
Wednesday 11th September 6:30 pm – Bat Walk
Friday 13th September – 7:30pm Ghost Walk
Sunday 15th September 10.00am – A Walk on the Wild Side
Wednesday 25th September 10.00am – Autumn Wildlife Stroll and Tidy Up
To book and for more details of these and more walks in October see www.steveengland.co.uk

Northern Slopes
Northern Slopes Initiative walk on the Slopes (walks are free, but donations welcome)
Saturday 21st September 10.30am – Birds and Berries – A walk to find out which wildlife is leaving for winter, or staying; and what autumn fruits are around and what you can make with them.
Walk starts at from the Park, Daventry Road, opposite St Barnabas Church – and take about 2hrs, but feel free to join or leave the walk as you wish.

Work for TreeBristol

Bristol is serious about doubling its tree canopy cover. As part of this ambition, TreeBristol are looking to appoint three people who can work as part of a team and with partners to deliver the new Tree Pips project.

According to your skills and experience you will teach primary school aged children about trees, develop tree planting plans with communities, run tree planting events and / or lead our TreeBristol streets project.

Richard Ennion, Horticultural Service Manager for Bristol Parks, tells us:

‘I am very pleased to announce that the council is now advertising three TreeBristol jobs, with a closing date of the 28th August. As discussed at the Parks Forum meeting on the 29th June, these officers will be working with partners to deliver the new Tree Pips project, which is a Mayoral initiative and part of the European Green Capital programme.’

For information about these jobs and how to apply, please see the link below to the Council Find a Job websitsite:

jobs.bristol.gov.uk – Tree_Bristol_Officer_x_3

Richard would be more than happy to talk with anyone who might be interested in these jobs, he also asks that you forward the details to anyone you think might be interested.

The Project Brief for the Tree Pips Project might be of interest whether or not you are applying for the job.

Find out more about TreeBristol at www.bristol.gov.uk/treebristol

Email Richard Ennion at richard.ennion@bristol.gov.uk

Kings Weston Walks

Walk2 Kings Weston Action Group have just launched a new walking guide, their second.

There are more details about the launch in the Bristol Post here

Both walks start from Shirehampton Road car park and are about 2.5miles. The atractive colour guides have clear maps and directions.

The guides can be downloaded as pdf files from the links below. Printed copies will be distributed through the city’s Library network, local venues in Shirehampton, Sea Mills, and Lawrence Weston as well as being available at Kings Weston itself.

To find out more about the Kings Weston Action Group, visit their facebook page at www.facebook.com/KingsWestonActionGroup

Download Walk 1 – Horseshoe Bend

Download Walk 2 – Kings Weston Hill

Refurbished Old Bowling Green on Brandon Hill

Free Yoga, Tai Chi, and Keep Fit Classes.

This year marked the completion of the Friends of Brandon Hill Project to refurbish the Old Bowling Green. The project was Lottery Funded through the Community Spaces Programme.

The space has already been used for out door plays as part of the Bristol Shakespeare Festival and now Friends of Brandon Hill have organised a series of Yoga, Tai Chi and Keep Fit Classes over the summer; details below:

Yoga

Led by Catherine Walker who teaches hatha yoga. A friendly and energetic teacher, her classes are suitable for beginners and those more familiar with yoga. They consist of easy-to-follow yoga poses, designed to increase strength and flexibility, with simple and advanced options. They will leave you feeling energised and refreshed. Mats will be provided.

Tuesday mornings 7.15am 30th July; 6th, 13th, 20th August
Contact: 07970 849984, yoga@flowyo.co.uk, t: @flow_yo

Tai Chi

Led by Ben Milton and the Bristol School of Tai Chi instructor team. Challenging for young and old. Long revered as an exercise to promote health, balance, and calm, Chen Style Tai Chi is challenging enough for both young and old. Initially done slowly, one learns grace and balance through a precise study of one’s own body and its movement within the space surrounding it. Later, movements can be done at any speed following one’s own intent, whether in class or in daily life.

Bring your friends and family along to practise together and enjoy a free lesson.

Sunday, 28th July; 11th, 25th August 13 10am

Saturday, 7th , 21st September 13 10am

Contact: 0117 9493955, taichi@bristoltaichi.com, www.bristoltaichi.com

Keep Fit

Led by personal trainer Vicki Hill. Vicki has crafted individual training schedules for clients throughout Bristol. For Brandon Hill she has developed training programmes for beginner, intermediate and advanced using the many feature of Brandon Hill to increase your fitness. These sessions will be your introduction to these programmes.
Sundays 9:30am and 10am from 4th August
4th August Beginner 9:30am, Intermediate 10am
18th August Beginner 9:30am, Advanced 10am
1st September Beginner 9:30am, Intermediate 10am
15th September Beginner 9:30am, Advanced 10am
29th September Beginner 9:30am, Intermediate 10am

Green Flag Awards 2013

There are 12 Green Flag winners in Bristol this year.

The Green Flag Award Scheme covers the whole of the UK and recognises well-managed, high-quality green spaces. Any green space in the UK is eligible to win this award providing it is freely accessible to the public.

grennflag_community_rgb Parks Forum member Snuff Mills Action Group has for the second time been awarded the Green Flag Community Award. The Community award is for green spaces in the UK that are managed by voluntary and community groups.

In addition Bristol Parks has been awarded 11 Green Flags for parks throughout the City that it manages. Community involvement is an important part of the Green Flag Award scheme, so the various Parks Groups involved in these parks have played a major part in the City winning these awards.

The Green Flag winning parks in Bristol are:
The Downs – TroopersHill – which won their first flags in 2007
Queen Square & Blaise Castle Estate – 2008
Ashton Court Estate & St Paul’s Park – 2009
Netham Park – 2010
St Andrew’s Park – 2011
Canford Park, Greville Smyth Park and Redcatch Park – 2012

The certificates for the 11 parks were presented by Mayor George Ferguson at Blaise Castle Estate this morning.

To fly a Green Flag a park has to meet the following criteria:

1. A welcoming place
2. Healthy, safe and secure
3. Clean and well maintained
4. Sustainability
5. Conservation and heritage
6. Community involvement
7. Marketing
8. Management

To see a more detailed description of the criteria visit the Green Flag Award website.

The Green Flag Award Scheme is licenced to Keep Britain Tidy by Communities and Local Government (DCLG) who own the green Flag Award Scheme. The scheme was set up in 1996.

A full list of 2013/14 winners on the Keep Britain Tidy website: Green Flag Awards 2013

Keep Britain Tidy press release: Another record-breaking year for Green Flag Awards

Bristol City Council Green Flag Page: www.bristol.gov.uk/greenflagparks

A Plea for Trees

As you may have noticed some of the trees we have planted this year and even in previous years are struggling in this hot weather. We have been increasing our watering rounds so the contractors are working flat out to ensure all the recently planted trees are being watered once a week.

However, if you have a few minutes and a handy bucket or watering-can to spare, the extra water will make a big difference to the trees during this hot weather.

Thank you

TreeBristol