Minutes of Public Meeting 29 01 11 (PDF, 65K)
Join in traditional hedge laying
On Wednesday 16th February from 10am, you have the opportunity to participate in laying a new hedge in Preston Park using traditional methods and tools. The work will be overseen by Park Ranger Gary Mayer. Meet near the childrens’ playground.
Meeting with Brighton Pride
On December 15th, Tony Benton and Sue Shepherd of Friends of Preston Park met with representatives from Brighton Pride to discuss next year’s Pride event. Click on the link to see the minutes: MeetingBrightonPride (PDF)
How Preston Park could have looked
This watercolour by Charles Knight on the Brighton’s Architecture site, shows Captain Bertie MacLaren’s never-realised grand scheme for Preston Park in the 1920s.
Agenda for public meeting on 16th November
The next open public meeting of the Friends of Preston Park will take place on Tuesday 16th November in the Men’s Bowling Pavilion at 7pm. Download the agenda. All welcome.
Action on the parking situation in the park
Amy Kennedy, Green City Councillor for Preston Park Ward on Brighton & Hove City Council has emailed us to advise you of the following:
“… at last week’s Full Council meeting I handed in a petition bearing over 2,200 signatures on behalf of Francis at the Rotunda, calling for action on the parking situation in the park. In response to this, a working group is being set up to look at the problem. I’ve asked that Friends of Preston Park be invited to join the group, and I’ll let you know when I have more details.”
Why did we plant English bluebells?
John Padmore has provided this helpful leaflet to explain why we went to great trouble to ensure that all 17000 bluebells planted at last Saturday’s bluebell planting bonanza were English.
Pics from the Bluebell Bonanza
Bumper bluebell-planting bonanza!
The Friends of Preston Park and Cityparks present a Bumper Bluebell-planting Bonanza! on Saturday, 30th October, 11-3pm at the Rock Garden, Preston Park.
Young and old are welcome to come along and make a difference to the beautiful Rock Garden at Preston Park by planting NATIVE ENGLISH BLUEBELL BULBS. We have a huge number of bulbs for you to plant in artistic swathes in the woodland area at the top of the garden.
We’ll have food available including hot soup, as well as live entertainment from the KJO Radio Band and DJ Simon Reid. If you can, bring a trowell and a mug for the soup. And make sure you dress appropriately for the weather!
Note that, because the area is at the top of the Rock Garden, access is restricted.
The event is kindly sponsored by David & Co Estate Agents, Brighton International Summer School (BISS), The Preston Park Hotel and the Co-Op, Baker Street.
Our questionnaire – the results!!!
We received 121 completed responses to our questionnaire. Below is a précis of the results. Note that the responses shown are the top four comments for each of the categories.
(The numbers shown should not be taken as percentages as not everyone completed all of the questions.)
The most popular answers to:
What do you most dislike/would want to change about the park?
Parking-related (22)
Cafe-related (14)
Dog-related (12)
Disposable BBQ’s (7)
There are 2 decommissioned bowling-greens. What would you like to see them used for?
Boules/petanque (14)
Pool (paddling/swimming) (14)
Plant-related e.g. allotments (13)
Volleyball (7)
What sort of events would you like to see being held at the park?
Fairs/fetes (30)
Open-air concerts (17)
Open-air theatre (8)
Open-air cinema (5)
The results are due to be discussed with councilors and park staff at the next committee meeting and the outcome will be posted.