A really interesting film about the Preston Park gilded twin …
Your paintings on display
All of the paintings created at our first Painting in the Park event are now on display at the Chalet Cafe. be sure to take a look!
We are awarded £200 to enhance the Coronation Garden
As part of the Platinum Jubilee Planting Scheme, we have been awarded a grant of £200 from Brighton Hove City Council. We plan to use the funds to help refurbish the Coronation Garden which was originally planted as a sensory garden for blind people. We hope to be able to plant as many sweet-smelling plants, such as jasmine, as we can to honour this legacy, making the garden more inviting to all the community.
Tree-Sure a big success
Our first Tree-Sure events were a great success with several hundred children scouring the park for trees on its first two days. Congratulations to the team of volunteers who worked to design and run the event.
Here’s a review of the event from Anjoline, in the top left of the picture above:
“My name is Anjoline, I am Canadian and studying in child and youth studies with Professor Sam Frankel and so this programme is all about advocating children’s rights and giving children a voice and what we are doing here is really hearing the voices of the children and getting them involved in activities.
So we are here a group of 8 Canadian students to learn more about your trees here and to work with children locally. The activities here at Preston Park went really well, we had a lot of people coming and they explored the Tree-Sure hunt and learnt more about the trees in their area, all the different types as there is such a vast variety of trees located in this park.
We did activities which are all relevant to the trees, such as slime making with the downy birch, known as the glue tree because it has a very sticky sap. It looks like a birch tree but has sap on the outside. Glue is a very necessary element to slime so we made eco slime. There was also the bug making activity where children got to use pipe cleaners to make some bugs as trees are home to many insects.
We had this huge sheet on which children wrote about what they thought of trees and what they loved about the environment and how Preston Park was important to their well-being and play. My impression of Preston Park is that it is a massive park with so much to offer, each tree is unique and our activity was a very important one to hold in this special place and we are glad we could share with the children our knowledge about the trees.”
Painting in the Park – what a success!
What a wonderful day it was at our first art event, Painting in the Park. A lovely turnout and some wonderful images were created.
Here are some great composites assembled by Rose Jones:
We have also uploaded as many pictures as we could to our Facebook page.
Brighton & Hove Air Quality Action Plan Consultation
Public meeting this weekend
National cycling event at the velodrome
On Sun 29th May, Preston Park velodrome hosts the only national-level cycling event to take place in Brighton. It should be an exciting day of racing featuring the next generation of cycling stars, many of whom are already on the national talent development programme. The old flint seating or grandstand both make ideal spectating points, and Infinity Foods will be providing catering. Help us keep national-level competition alive at our historic velodrome!
Tree-Sure event: 29th and 30th May, 11.00 – 15.00
Join us at the Chalet Cafe on either of these two days for the launch of Preston Park’s very own Tree-Sure Island map, which has been developed by a local teacher who is a member of our committee, to help children identify many of the different beautiful trees in our Park and learn more about the many different varieties.
The map will be on sale for only £1 and children will be able to use it to find different trees in the park with the help of ‘Goldie,’ a helpful and friendly goldfinch who will give them things to do and observe to find out more.
Several volunteer student helpers will also be available to give help to children in finding the trees and finding out more information. I’m sure many parents will enjoy this event as much as the children! We hope lots of you will come to discover Tree-Sure Island in Preston Park!
Preston Twin dedicated to Queen to mark jubilee
The Preston Twin is one of 70 ancient trees set to be dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II to mark the Platinum Jubilee.
The elm is thought to be about 400 years old, and until 2019 was one of a pair standing in Preston Park.
Sadly, when Dutch Elm Disease struck one had to be felled, but the other one has so far survived.
The Prince of Wales announced the dedication yesterday as patron of The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC).