For anyone who has missed our first two Tree Walks, led by local tree expert Peter Bourne, we will running a third event on September 25th at 11 am. Register here.
Celebrate the opening of the new Velodrome mural
Painting in the Park III
You are again warmly invited to join us in the park on Sunday October 9, from 10-1, to create your own artwork using a medium of your choice – pencils, coloured pencils, paint, pastels, ink, collage, mixed media or any other. It will be a great day to meet other people with an artistic temperament and to share experience and knowledge.
The event is restricted to those aged 16 and over. All abilities are welcome, including complete beginners.
Meet for a short briefing at the Chalet Cafe at 10.00 am. Don’t forget to bring your own art materials and, ideally, something to sit on (we do have some chairs, if you have nothing suitable). You can then choose any location in the park to create your artwork, with consideration, of course, for other park users. Preston Park has many places where you can find interesting subject matter.
Meet back at the rockery at 13.00 pm to share your work with your colleagues.
Any artwork you create does remain your property but we ask your consent to take a photograph. We will share these online and exhibit them at the Chalet Cafe in the Park.
It’s time to try the Tree-Sure Hunt
With the Preston Park Tree-sure Hunt you use a map to search out some of the amazing trees in Preston Park. Discover their uses and try the activities!
The trees are marked with a varying number of Goldfinches to guide you (and for you to count).
Available now at Wigwam Toys and the Chalet Cafe. Only £2 which includes the map, a pencil, book mark, and a secret prize! It is aimed at children but all ages (even those in their 80s) have given it a go.
Follow us on Instagram
We’ve just set up an Instagram account so you don’t have to wait to see all the fabulous images and videos of the park that come our way.
In case you’re not already following us on Facebook, here’s the link:
Preston Park retains its Green Flag award
You will be proud to hear that Preston Park has been recognised with another Green Flag Award for the coming year! This is recognition of a well-run park, used and supported by the local community and with an active friends group.
Well done to all those associated with making the park such a well-loved asset to the city.
Water in Preston Park
While the recent rain is most welcome after weeks of drought, we will need much more rain to get back to previous levels. You may not know that the Wellesbourne River runs north-south about 35 metres under Preston Park, and pumps are in place around the park so it can be used to water the trees and flower beds, such as the Rose Garden. As this river is not mains water, it’s not subject to hosepipe bans, and keeps the soil moist deep down to the benefit of the larger trees during drought conditions. In addition, CityParks staff have been watering without fail, twice a week, recently planted trees including those in our cherry blossom walk and the fruit trees, usually early in the morning before most people are about.
A big thank you to them for their hard work.
Pub In The Park event, 16-18 September
Just to let you know that this event, an outdoor food and drinks festival and concert, will take place on the above dates, starting at 5.30 pm on the Friday. The build for the event starts on 12th September, with the busiest day anticipated to be Thursday 15 September when most exhibitors will arrive. The breakdown will commence on Monday 19th September and the Park will be returned to full use by the end of Wednesday 21st September.
The organisers have stressed that they have an experienced traffic management team which will oversee all vehicle movements and arrangements. They have also appointed expert noise consultants to manage noise levels. Music will stop promptly at 10.00 pm Friday and Saturday and 7.00 pm on Sunday.
Pub in the Park has a dedicated number and email address for you to contact with any concerns that you may have: 0203 728 6430 or operations@pubintheparkuk.com. These numbers will be operational between 13-19th September.
Pride event and tidy up
We hope that many of you were able to enjoy Pride Weekend, despite the loss of access to Preston Park before and after the event. We wanted to make sure you know that Pride and CityParks management always work closely together with local Councillors and ourselves, to keep disruption to a minimum and to ensure that Preston Park is restored fully afterwards. The Pride clean-up was mostly very successful, but they have asked us to explain to you some problems which they are still dealing with.
This year, it has been difficult to carry out what is termed ‘the micro clean’ which includes things like cigarette butts, cable ties, shards of plastic and confetti, as the ground is so hard and dusty. The machines to do this final clean were just picking up too much dust and getting clogged up. Pride management therefore consulted the Pub in the Park organisers and agreed to do this final micro clean after this event which takes place between 16th and 18th September (more details below). By then, the ground should not be so dusty and the machines will work. This will also ensure that this second event has a micro-clean as well. Pride also asked us to inform you that the confetti that you may have seen around the Park is fully biodegradable, but needs some rain before the biodegrading process can start.
Fantastic new mural in the velodrome
An amazing new mural has just been completed in the velodrome. According to Community Engagement Worker Hannah Baker: ‘Congratulations to artists Rebecca Angel Creative and Dawn The Amazing Art Cart for their fabulous artistic skills; working with the local community and producing this wonderful new mural for the city’s Velodrome! Local groups involved included Brighton Multicultural Womens’ Cycling Club, Brighton Cricket Club, Preston Park Young Cyclists Club, Friends of Preston Park, Preston Park Local Action team) and supported by the local ward Councillors, Siriol Hugh-Jones and Leo Littman. Residents worked together to select the chosen artist from those who responded to the public call out. Thanks also to all the artists who took the time to register their interest – we have a city with a huge wealth of talent.’
Take a look!