Month: August 2011

Peter is Community Pay-back Supervisor, which involves organising work for groups of up to eight offenders at a time. He often works in Preston Park on Fridays in areas like the cycle velodrome and the Rock Garden as well as the main park.

What do you like about the job?
The variety. I work in a variety of locations and we undertake a variety of work. I work with people from a range of different backgrounds – it can sometimes be challenging.

What contributions have you made to the park?
Well, in about 18 months we’ve painted all the railings, taken the suckers off around 20 elm trees, swept and litter-picked various areas including the velodrome and the parking roads, as well as things like collecting flints from the walls in the velodrome so they can be re-used. The team has cleared the waterfall in the Rock Garden of debris so that it can begin to work again and we’ve done weeding and coppicing.

Best thing about the park?
It’s used so widely by so many different people. Other parks don’t have the same usage that Preston Park has.

Ambitions for the park?
I think the maintenance of the Rock Garden is very important. It is a stunning entrance to the city and contains some important plants.

Thank you Peter!

On Tuesday 23rd August, Sue Shepherd, Vice-Chair of the Friends of Preston Park was interviewed by Melita Dennett on radio Reverb. In this recording of the show, Sue explains how PrestFest came about and what it is aiming to achieve.

We’ve organised a summer festival!!!

. . . And it’s because of you. You may remember we conducted a survey last year. One of the questions was ‘What sort of events would you like to see being held in the park?’ Your responses made it clear that a local, fun summer fete would be the most popular, so here it is. We would love to see you there.

Go to our PrestFest page to see a full list of what will be happening on the day.

George is Gardens Manager for the grounds of Preston Manor; that’s the area to the north of the north park road including the churchyard, walled garden, wildlife area and beds. He helps out in the rest of the park as and when needed; for instance, he’ll be helping in the Rose Garden soon.

George has had the role for 11 years before which he was at the Kipling Gardens in Rottingdean and he was also foreman at the Royal Pavilion Gardens.

What do you like about the job?
Just about everything – there’s nothing to dislike!

What contribution do you make to the park?
I’ve seen a lot of changes. I suppose the obvious thing is the Walled Garden. When I arrived in the job contractors were laying foundations [the gardens were being rejuvenated following the award of a grant] so the garden was started from scratch. I didn’t design it but I double-dug the lot and planted it up with the help of the volunteers.

What’s the best thing about the park?
The best thing is the diversity of uses: so many different people use it for so many different things. It’s such a welcoming area.

And your ambitions for the park?
One day I’d like to see one big team operating together so that we can all muck in together and sort out all the areas of the park.

Things have taken an upward turn since the Friends of Preston Park got going; there are more new ideas coming in for the park.

Thank you George!