Brighton & Hove City Council have begun their next round of residents’ meetings. The next meeting will be held at The Park View pub on Monday 2nd December, in the downstairs area from 4pm until 6pm. The Park View pub address is 71 Preston Drove, BN1 6LD.
The new outdoor gym in Preston Park will be officially opening this Saturday, 16 November from 12 until 13.30. A Proludic personal trainer will be on-site, sharing fitness tips and demonstrating how to use the equipment safely, as well as boxfit taster sessions from www.fightklub.co.uk Anyone interested is welcome to turn up for a free session or to ask any questions about the equipment.
Each year the Rotary Club launches the Purple Crocus Corm planting to raise awareness of the Rotary fight for a polio free world. The springtime gorgeous displays of purple crocus corms remind us of the need to eradicate the life threatening and disabling polio virus.
Two million purple corms are available nationwide and you will see many volunteers planting them throughout Brighton and Hove green spaces in October. The first ones were planted by CityParks rangers and volunteers on Friday in St Ann’s Well and by Patcham roundabout. Friends of Preston Park are delighted to take part in this wonderful campaign by planting 8 000 bulbs on the south side of the park and by the Rotunda Cafe.
The crocus corm variety this year is Crocus tommasinianus – Ruby Giant (deep purple).
When a child receives their life-saving polio drops on mass polio immunisation days, their little finger is painted with a purple dye, so it is clear they have received their polio vaccine- hence the crocus connection.
Please donate today to protect a child. Every donation to the Rotary Club will be trebled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, so every £1 will become £3.
You may have noticed that over the last eighteen months the Rotunda Pond looked neglected and overgrown. A lot of debris and rotting vegetation turned the water cloudy and unhealthy, with the surface covered by invasive duckweed. Leaks have made it necessary to top up the water constantly.
Fortunately work has commenced on the pond as this is the right time of year to do so as the amphibian life are now in the rose beds. The debris and dead and decaying vegetation have been removed and next step is to repair the pond liner, by identifying leaks and draining where necessary. The work should be completed in time for spring.
The Petanque Court
The Petanque Court, sandwiched between the Tennis Courts and the new Outdoor Gym, is growing in popularity with local residents and U3a players. It is a very social sport which encourages interaction with others, teamwork, strategy, competition and is a lot of fun. The Court at Preston Park needs resurfacing as it is quite uneven and shows wear, having lost some of its surface sand. Sadly most of the damage is caused by people using the court for cycling when we have our own velodrome.
A new group of volunteers, the Preston Park Petanque Group, has been set up to undertake the renovation of the court. This involves weeding, edging, filling the depressions with limestone and fine gravel, raking and compacting the new material to create a firm, playable surface. The general and ongoing maintenance will involve cleaning, levelling and re-gravelling when necessary to keep the court in good condition.
If you would like more information about the Petanque Court or would be interested in volunteering or just finding people with whom to play please email at info@friendsofprestonpark.org
Please be reminded that our AGM will be taking place on Friday 15 November at 5-7.30pm at St Peter Cricket Club. Steve Geliot, who initiated the “Save our Starlings” campaign, will be giving a presentation on Brighton starling population. Tea and cakes will be available.
The new Changing Places toilet in Preston Park will open on Thursday, 31st October. The toilet has a hoist, adjustable changing bench, and height adjustable sink. It is designed for people who are unable to use a standard accessible toilet who require the assistance of a carer or multiple carers. The site will be accessible by the use of a RADAR key. (A RADAR key is used to access accessible toilets across the country. BHCC do provide RADAR keys for free to Brighton & Hove residents if they are eligible. All they need to do is follow the link https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/libraries-leisure-and-arts/public-toilets/apply-radar-key where they can complete a form and return it to us. Alternatively, people can buy a RADAR key from https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/) It will operate during standard public toilet opening hours (10am-4pm during the winter, 10am-6pm during the summer). The site will be locked outside of these hours. The introduction of this Changing Places toilet will increase the accessibility of Preston Park and allow more people to enjoy the city’s green spaces.
Friends of Preston Park entered the Rose Garden into the South and South East in Bloom 2024 competition and we are delighted to announce that the Rose Garden was awarded Level 4 – “Thriving” in the “It’s Your Neighbourhood” category. With 4,500 entries participating nationwide and over 300 locally this was a very tough competition and as it was the first time we entered the Rose Garden we can honestly say we are absolutely bowled over with this wonderful achievement. We would like to thank all who contributed to this success; individuals and local businesses who gave us funds to buy tools and plants, David Austin the Rose Grower who donated roses, CityParks for mulch in the winter, our amazing team of volunteers who every Tuesday weed and lovingly tend the plants, and all the residents who enjoy the garden responsibly.
We are hoping to enter the Rose Garden into SSEIB again in 2025 and aim at achieving the highest level, Level 5 – Outstanding, following the advice we were given for improvement. We need to improve the soil of the Rose Garden with some new soil and fertiliser and also tend the herbaceous borders. The volunteers are very keen to replant the East and West borders alongside the Rose Garden, which have been neglected for years. It is a mammoth task, which we started in spring and you may have noticed the new salvias and fuchsias among other plants.
Many thanks to Huw Morgan from Sussex Wildlife Trust for coming to Preston Park this week to give us some insight into the world of the Pipistrelle bats that like to hang out around various areas of the park. The weather managed to do the right thing and not rain, and we had some lovely evening light to start us off with.
Huw explained the process of using a bat detector and we were soon able to pick up the amazing ultrasonic vocalisations that the bats were giving out as they picked up on their evening snack of flying insects. Different bat species have a different sound pattern, and bats also make different noises depending on what they are doing ie they make different sounds when hunting as opposed to when they are looking for a mate. It was also fascinating to learn that bats are currently in the mating season, but that the females are able to put off pregnancy until May when there is more food availability.
Even once it got dark, we were able to enjoy the sounds and exciting flight displays as the bats zig-zagged over our heads! An enjoyable evening for all ages! For further information on bats, please go to either the Sussex Wildlife Trust website or the Sussex Bat Group.
Our next walk will be Sue Shepherd’s History of Preston Park Walk on Sunday 17th of November, starting at the Rotunda Café at 14.30. Please sign up via Eventbrite. There will be quite a lot of walking around the park which is fairly flat and wheelchair accessible, but please be aware of tree roots, etc..
West Sussex & Brighton & Hove Age UK have opened a new hub in Brighton & Hove. Situated on 95 Queens Road, near Brighton Station, it is hoped the new hub will provide the older population in the city with better information and advice, including money advice, cost of living, fitness tips and how to stay safe from scams and more! Residents can pop in anytime on weekdays from 9.30 until 16.00. For more information, please go to: https://linktr.ee/aukwsbh_brightonhove or contact them at: www.ageukwsbh.org.uk or 0800019 1310
