Friends of Preston Park

Tim Richardson has worked on grounds maintenance in the park for 16 years.

What do you like about the job?
I like being outdoors. Love doing sports; that is, marking out the pitches for things like football, softball etc. I enjoy planting the beds with designs by local children. Bed 8 won ‘best bed’ in the city this summer – bed 5 came second.

What contribution do you make to the park?
I keep the pitches going.

What is the best thing about the park?
The walk between the tennis courts. The new planting has been a great success and, although I didn’t design it, I had a lot to do with planting it up.

What are your ambitions for the park?
Personally, I like formality in the park. I’d like to see borders with appropriate fences so that people (and dogs) can clearly see where they can and can’t go. I’d like more people working in the park so that all jobs can be completed to our satisfaction.

Thank you Tim!

Anne Meadows, Mayor of Brighton and Hove, seen here with Tony Benton, Chair of Friends of Preston Park, today opened the new petanque terrain in Preston Park. The terrain was laid by City Parks in response to the wishes of park users, as collected in the survey conducted by the Friends in 2010.

The Mayor said:

“Today we are opening this petanqe terrain for all residents of Brighton and Hove. The council is always keen to provide new opportunities for residents to exercise and enjoy the outdoors. When it was decided to decommission the bowling green that used to stand here, we wanted to replace it with another sporting facility.

At the same time the newly formed Friends of Preston Park were asked what should replace the bowling green. Rather than just provide solutions that suited their individual needs, the friends group went to great lengths to consult the whole community via a questionnaire, and the most popular option was a petanque terrain, which the council were only too happy to provide, so great thanks for this should go to the friends group. By throwing this first boule, I declare the terrain open.”

The terrain will be open for play between April and September and anyone is welcome to play. Boules can be borrowed for free from the Cubby Hole at The Women’s Bowls Pavilion, on payment of a £20 deposit.

You may remember the pond by the Rotunda was full of tadpoles. They are now weeny frogs and Paul Baron emailed these pics of them – small but perfectly formed!

As a police community support officer (PCSO), I work on the front line of your local force, providing a visible and reassuring presence on the streets and tackling anti-social behaviour.

I have many responsibilities within this role. They include patrolling a beat (in my case Preston Park and Prestonville). I interact with the public, while also offering assistance to police officers.

The main roles of a PCSO are to:

• deal with minor offences
• offer early intervention to deter people from committing offences
• provide support for front-line policing
• conduct house-to-house enquiries
• guard crime scenes
• provide crime prevention advice

The boundaries of my beat are Preston Park Avenue and Beaconsfield Road to the East, Dyke Road and Tivoli Crescent to the West, Clermont Road and Harrington Road to the North and New England Road to the South. Centrally located is the wonderful Preston Park. I often patrol Preston Park and hold a street briefing at the Chalet Cafe within the Park.

To the East of Preston Park is Fiveways. The local PCSO for Fiveways is Erica Harkness.

Three elms have been felled in the park – all had a degenerative fungal disease. The first was near the north east entrance to the park. The second was in the line of elms near the tennis courts – it blew down the day before it was due to be felled. The third was in the same line.

We have received details of the stewarding details for this year’s Pride event:

Stewarding and Security provided by Select on behalf of BHCC (1)

This Summer, Friends of Preston Park, in conjunction with CityParks, will be staging a summer festival in the park. Our aim is to celebrate local talents, promote local businesses and community organisations and to provide a fun day for everyone living in the area.

You can help us to make this event a success. If you represent a local business, voluntary group, sports club, dance or musical group, then you might like to consider participating.

As an individual you can help too, by assisting Friends of Preston Park on the day.

However you’d like to take part, contact us as soon as you can using the contact form on this site (click on Contact above) or ring Sue on 01273 506363.

The pond outside the Rotunda is teeming with life at the moment. Masses of tadpoles, some fish and a really healthy number of newts make this a fascinating place for children (and adults) to study watery beings.

This picture shows Alan Griffiths and Andy Jeavons of City Parks conducting the second of our ‘Walks in the Park’ last Tuesday. Preston Park looks at its very best in May, so why not join us for our last evening walk on Thursday 26th to learn more about the park, its plants, trees and wildlife? The walk will begin from the Rose Garden and start at 6 pm. The walk will then head north and include the walled garden and rock garden, ending at approximately 7.30 pm.