The community for users of Preston Park in Brighton, UK
Friends of Preston Park volunteers prepared the Lavender Walk for the winter, weeding and giving a light prune to the bushes, cutting the overgrown ivy, honeysuckle and jasmin. There is much more gardening work to be done, so please join us next Tuesday at 10 am at the Rockery Chalet.
One of the great pleasures in working as a volunteer gardener is learning tips such as planting and pruning as well as helping shrubs and flowers grow happily by weeding, deadheading and mulching. On Sunday 1st October we had our first monthly Sunday morning session and enjoyed clearing some of the overgrown thistle and bindweed from the Rose Garden beds.
Why not join us for our next session on Sunday 5th November and meet our wonderful team of volunteers.
Autumn is an exciting time to come and learn how to prepare flowerbeds for the winter, and you can apply to your own garden the knowledge acquired.
Before and after.
FoPP will be running Gardening Sessions on the first Sunday of each month to help keep Preston Park beautiful, starting at the Rockery Hut at 10.00am.
If you are interested and would like to sign up as a volunteer, visit www.friendsofprestonpark.org/volunteering/volunteer-contact-form/
Please see the below poster for details:
The Friends of Preston Park will officially open their community book swap box on 22 October, 12.00-14.00, in the Rose Garden. Anyone who is interested, is invited to come along for a slice of cake and to see what books we have available for swapping.
We would like to thank Pride for donating towards this project, that enabled us to purchase some excellent LGBTQIA+ books for lending. It is hoped that we will also have a children’s book swap up and running shortly, as well.
The Friends of Preston Park (FoPP) will be holding their next AGM on Saturday, 11 November, 14.00 – 16.00. Residents and members are invited to join us at St. Peter’s cricket club, near the velodrome in Preston Park. Following on from business we have invited local biodiversity educationalist, Dr Dan Danahar to give us a presentation on butterfly conservation. Dan has led a number of local initiatives within the city of Brighton & Hove, including persuading the public to count butterflies, which in turn inspired the national charity Butterfly Conservation to develop the Big Butterfly Count.
He has also introduced Butterfly Havens as a habitat restoration approach for chalk grassland butterflies, giving the public access to nature on their doorsteps. Dan is Executive Trustee of the charitable company Big Nature – www.bignature.co.uk, which aims to revitalise the relationship between people and their local wildlife by creating natural habitats within the UNESCO designated Brighton & Lewes Downs Biosphere region (The Living Coast). So if you would like to learn more, please come along and meet Dan.
This week, Ranger Marie Ingledew came to meet with volunteer gardeners in the Rose Garden. Marie is a fairly new ranger to our area and is based in Preston Park as well as other green areas around Brighton & Hove. She will be assisting Ranger Neil Doyle and his team of volunteers to clear and mend the Rose Garden pond in October (weather permitting). We welcome this work as the pond has been in need of some tender care. It should be up and running soon and will be all bedded in again in time for spring.
This week, the FoPP held its final Painting-in-the Park event for the year. Luckily, the sun shone brightly and attendees were able to concentrate on their subjects and not bother about rain. We had some excellent art works of the park and anyone interested will be able to view the work on the Chalet Cafe wall. We thank everyone who came and encourage anyone who would like to do this to join us once again next year. Just keep any eye on events on our website in spring.
Our next event will be the bat walk with Nick Lane (a change from Emma Keane who can no longer make that date) on Thursday, 28 September. Please go to Eventbrite to book tickets. Please note that whilst the event is wheelchair accessible there may be areas that have tree roots, etc.. We will ask for donations at the end.
A reminder that Painting in the Park will be taking place on Sunday 3rd September at 10am at the Chalet Cafe. Book your place on Eventbrite here.
You are invited to come along with your medium of choice and to set up and make a piece of art in three hours.
Participants meet back at the FoPP gazebo at 13.00 to display their work and discuss the final outcomes over a piece of cake. Everyone aged 16 and over is welcome. Donations will be requested at the end of the event.
Please see below from Sue Shepherd:
CPRE Sussex is hosting a Countryside Day Out at the Knepp Estate on Saturday, 2 September. This is an exciting opportunity to explore the home of Sussex rewilding and
help us celebrate our 50th anniversary. There will be talks, tours and a dedicated kid’s activity area.
Find out more at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cpre-sussex-countryside-day-tickets-525450826567.