Friends of Preston Park

Brighton and Hove City Council has published proposals for tackling parking problems in and about the park. These proposals have come about as a result of resident and park users’ feedback and they want you to have a say. The proposals in brief are to:

• Create off-street parking areas to limit parking in the park to two designated areas, known as The Gallops and The Ride and shown in the information leaflet plan in red.
• Allow access to designated disabled parking bays close to the picnic area and central pathway (marked on the plan) for Blue Badge Holders only.
• Prevent non park users parking all day by restricting parking to a maximum of four hours in the park.
• Increase the length of stay for on street parking to 11 hours in the southern section of Preston Park Avenue (south of the existing loading bay).
• Introduce a parking charge lower than the on street parking charge to fund and maintain the proposed scheme. If an income is generated this will be reserved for improvements to Preston Park.

You can give us your views in person by visiting the Chalet Café September 01-14 or the Rotunda Café September 16-30 if you prefer to complete a survey on paper, and either return it using the box on site or a prepaid reply envelope by the 30 September 2011.

If you prefer to speak to council representatives then they are holding an exhibition at Preston Park Men’s Bowls Pavilion on Thursday 15 September 2011 between 2.00pm and 6.30pm.

You can also give your views by filling in the survey online.

Thanks to Mark Nelson of First Light Studios, Nile Street, Brighton, for many of these photos.

Click on the button in the bottom-right corner of the slide how to see the photos full screen.

Silent grass sweeps under foot
with soothing quiet brush.
Artist strokes can not compare
pastel under willow shade

Port wine magnolia floats
her scented summer breeze.
Inside exotic rainbow hue
petals hold the perfect gift.

She flows in blooms above;
honeyed beads on high.
Nectar cups the busy bee,
pollen flies on hasty wings.

Harvest lays its seed to grow
falling to rich earth below.
Darkened loam upon the clay
maker of this tinted day.

Rainbow scented nectar flows
beauty that the earth bestows.
All this coloured lively zest
suckles mother natures breast.

© Jonny Fisher 2011

For Jonny’s new book, A Mariner that sails upon no sea, contact him on Thundergroundpub@aol.com.

Join Harvest for their annual local food picnic in Preston Park. There’ll be local food on sale, cookery demonstrations and tasters, seedbomb workshops, local sheep, morris dancers, plus a food swap for your jams, preserves and excess produce at 1pm!

This year the Brighton & Hove Food & Drink Festival also brings you a whole new sport: Sussex Cheese Bowling! Presented in conjunction with High Weald Dairy, we challenge you to roll your cheese for Brighton!

Cheese Bowling is sponsored by Natural PR and The Southern Co-operative.

Please register if you would like to be kept informed as further details of this event are confirmed.

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!