Community Spaces is a £50m open grants programme funded through the Big Lottery Fund and managed by Groundwork UK. This is a place for the Community Spaces team, Facilitators, projects as well as passers-by to share their stories about transforming green open spaces.
The Friends of Bennion Pools has been awarded a Green Pennant Award for the Bennions Pools Nature Reserve near the Walkers crisp factory in Leicester.
The Green Pennant Award is a national award that recognises high quality green spaces in England and Wales that are managed by voluntary and community groups. The Award is part of the Green Flag Award scheme, the national standard for quality parks and green spaces.
The Friends group was awarded just under £50k to re-develop the site, increasing access to the pools and encouraging local people to get involved.
Chair of the Friends group, John Greasley said, “We are delighted to be receiving this award – it’s a real boost for the local people who have volunteered so much time to the pools and the projects we run here. We’re also thankful for the Community Spaces funding, without it what we have created here would not have been possible.”
The group worked closely with Leicester City Council to develop the project. Since receiving the funding they have organised many events encouraging local people to get involved in further developing the site and ensuring that it is kept clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.
This weekend saw the opening of two of our large Community Spaces projects. First was the Dunnington and Grimston Playing Fields community group who launched on Friday, followed by Eye Open Space Community that launched on Saturday. Both projects received just over £98,000 from the Community Spaces Fund to re-develop their park areas.
Dunnington and Grimston Playing Fields used the £98,000 to turn an out of date play area into a creative, challenging play zone for children of all ages to enjoy. Their launch event was a huge success, and was opened by local schoolboy, Matthew McPherson, who won a logo design competition that was ran by the community group.
Then the following day, the Mayor of Peterborough, Keith Sharpe, opened the Eye Open Space Community Project. The group used the £99,000 given to them by Community Spaces to convert a large, baron piece of land, into a vibrant park area for all the family to enjoy.
Are you looking for some new trees to plant in a local park, community garden or open space?
Then look no further as the Woodland Trust are offering free tree planting packs to all community groups that want t to plant trees in shared community spaces.
The tree planting packs are available in two different sizes. The small pack holds 105 trees and the large pack contains 420 trees (that’s a lot of trees!). The packs can be separated and planted in small areas that best suit your community space.
These trees could be an ideal addition for any Community Spaces project looking to green-up their project site.
Bad weather didn’t stop the Friends of High Lane Parks from launching their Community Spaces funded project this weekend. Even special guest, Liberal Democrat MP Andrew Stunell, attended the launch to open a brand new playground.
The group received just over £48,000 from the Community Spaces Fund to build a new playground for the children of Stockport to enjoy. Before the project went underway families were struggling to entertain their children. Now, a brand new playground designed and chosen by local children is available for everyone.
Over 500 residents of Stockport braved the showers to watch Mr Stunell cut the celebration cake and officially open the new playground.
The event was a huge success with school bands and choirs performing alongside dancing dogs and Tai Chi demonstrations.
June Gibbs, a local resident in Stockport said, “It was a very successful event, with lots of home grown talent. It really was a community fun day in our lovely park.”
With the summer now in full swing, there is nothing better to do then get outside and enjoy your local park, and there’s no better excuse then ‘Love Parks Week.’
Love Parks Week is an annual celebration of our parks and green spaces. It is organised, by Community Spaces partner organisation, Green Space http://www.green-space.org.uk. Love Parks Week raises awareness of what our parks have to offer, and is a campaign to save these valuable community assets.
The annual celebration starts from the 24th July, and continues all week until the 1st August. There will be organised events across the country for people to get involved in. If you’ve received funding for your park through the Community Spaces programme then your group might want to use Love Parks Week as an opportunity to promote your project and get more people into the park.
To find out more about organising your own event or about events happening near you visit www.loveparksweek.org.uk
The Fairland Park project in Hornsey, London held their official opening ceremony on Sunday (18th July). The group, which received just under £50k from the Community Spaces programme, used funding to create a new play area in the park. Working with local partners and Groundwork London, the group has transformed the park with new landscaping, seating and play equipment.
This month saw the finishing of the Blacon Greenway and Old Station project that was funded by the Community Spaces programme. Facilitator David Hammond describes the transformation of the old Station site.
The final piece was quite literally laid this month in a regeneration project that has turned a grot spot into a gateway that is bringing pride to the local community.
A railway line used to connect Blacon to the nearby city of Chester and Connah’s Quay on the Welsh coast. The railway closed decades ago, leaving behind the site of the old station. This sat neglected and unloved for years, a haven for weeds, litter and anti social behaviour.
The coming of a Sustrans cycle route brought the railway route back into use, but it has taken the dedication of volunteers from Blacon Community Trust and £85k of money from WREN and Community Spaces to transform the site. Stephen Perry deserves a special mention as the tireless volunteer project manager whose efforts have inspired hundreds of local people to get involved in the project.
The site has been themed around its railway heritage, with signs, fencing and benches that echo the age of steam. Access improvements, planting and chainsaw sculptures mean that everyone can now find something to enjoy in the peace and quiet of the Old Station site, just two minutes from the heart of Blacon.
Most of the work was finished last December and was celebrated with a Christmas event complete with mince pies, Santa and snow. But the centrepiece of the site was unveiled this month: a colourful mosaic containing 1,500 individual tiles!
One thousand tiles were handmade by children at the five nearby primary schools, along with local community groups. On Saturday 10 July, to coincide with the Blacon Festival, some of the children who had helped create the mosaic revealed it to an expectant crowd which included the Lord Mayor, Cllr Neil Ritchie.
The amazing mosaic is four metres across. It brings together 120 years of history, with one half representing a train wheel and the other a bicycle wheel. These bring together the past and present, linking the railway with the national cycle route that now runs through the site.
As a Community Spaces facilitator, all of the projects that I am involved with are special. It is always a privilege to work with people who are so passionate about transforming their local areas. This project stands out because of the almost obsessive detail and sheer effort that has gone into making a unique piece of artwork.
Have you got some young, budding journalists in your community? Well if so, then this competition is for you!
The Young Darwin Prize is a competition to find the best nature news video produced by young people.
The competition is being run by the National History Museum, supported by Defra. They are looking for groups of up to 10 people to make a short news video about their local biodiversity project to enter into their competition.
This is a great way for children to explore your newly developed Community Spaces project and learn about the wildlife living there.
There are two entry categories, ages 7-11 years (Key Stage 2 or equivalent) and ages 11-14 years (key Stage 3 or equivalent).
The winning group out of both categories wins £500 and a visit to a local biodiversity site of special interest. The winners will also be invited to a VIP event at the Natural History Museum to go-behind the scenes and collect their prize and present their film.
The Big Lottery Fund has launched a new small grant programme for communities that want to come together to explore, protect and celebrate wildlife.
BIG has teamed up with the BBC Wildlife Fund’s Go Wild Campaign to develop the Community Wildlife programme.
The programme offers grants of between £300 – £10,000 to not-for-profit groups, local councils, schools and health bodies who want to get local communities more involved in their local wildlife.
Projects can range from discovering local wildlife areas or animals, learning more about local wildlife, or creating or enhancing local wildlife areas.
