TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan were guests of honour at the official launch of the Saltash Celtic Cross, the centrepiece of a Community Spaces flagship project to regenerate Elwell Woods and provide a spectacular landmark at the gateway to Cornwall.
Wendy Jenkins, Programmes Director of Groundwork UK was also at the launch to congratulate the local volunteers and community members who helped to bring the spectacular project to fruition.
A hedge and tree planting day at Elwell Woods in Saltash, Cornwell on February 16 will see local volunteers continue the transformation of the area, as preparations continue for the arrival of the Cornish Cross.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust will be working with a group of volunteers to plant a 100m long perimeter hedge around Elwell Woods. The hawthorn, blackthorn and broadleaved hedging will encourage wild birds to nest in the area. A variety of native trees and shrubs will also be planted through the woodland.
Anyone interested in helping can come along from 10am-3pm on Saturday February 16. Volunteers must wear suitable clothing, including boots and work gloves. Refreshments and pasties will be provided.
This will be the latest in a series of volunteer days that are transforming Elwell Woods. Saltash Waterfront Resident’s Association (SWRA) initiative will turn the former wasteland into a wooded area complete with fitness equipment, picnic areas, a small orchard and a 20 metre high Cornish Cross.
Further volunteer days are planned for Saturdays in March – planting the orchard on the 2nd, and building and installing bird and bat boxes on the 23rd.
Joe Ellison, Project Leader for SWRA, said: “With the help of our volunteers, we are transforming this previously forgotten area into a beautiful place to visit with stunning views and, when the Cornish Cross is in place, one of Cornwall’s most important landmarks.”
The 20-metre cross, designed by Cornish sculptor, Simon Thomas, is in the final stage of fabrication at Newquay Airport, made from leading edge aerospace materials such as glass and carbon fibre to resemble copper.
SWRA believes the Cornish Cross will become the ‘gateway to Cornwall’ and will become as firmly fixed on the tourist map as the Angel of the North, attracting visitors to the area and boosting the local economy.
Elwell Woods, including the Cornish Cross, is a Community Spaces Flagship project. Additional funding and support has come from Cornwall Council, Saltash Town Council and the Duchy of Cornwall.
WWF’s Earth Hour next month is a chance for people everywhere to show their support for the environment and celebrate our planet – by simply turning off the lights for 60 minutes.
This year the focus is on energy use – focusing minds on the need to move away from fossil fuels towards renewable sources of heat, light and power.
To kick things off, WWF – formerly the World Wildlife Fund – has launched a nationwide search for inspirational people making a difference for the environment. These
Hidden Heroes don’t have to be superheroes, just people who have gone the extra mile to help the environment.
Earth Hour starts at 8.30pm on Saturday March 23. For more information and to nominate someone for a Hidden Heroes award, click here
Intergalactic fame for the Alvaston Park Science Garden in Derby – a project supported by Community Spaces.
The city was chosen as the site for a replica of Herschel’s 20ft telescope, unveiled live on the BBC2 Stargazing progamme this week.
Katie Smith from the Science Garden says: “If it wasn’t for the help and support of everyone connected with the Science Garden, I think it’s safe to say that this telescope would never have been built in Derby.
“It was through the success of last year’s Science Garden launch/Stargazing Live event that the BBC got in touch in late October to discuss the possibility of placing the telescope in Alvaston Park. Unfortunately, the park wasn’t a viable option, but it allowed an opportunity to make a very strong case for Derby and we were successful in fighting off national competition.
“Viewing figures for this year’s BBC Stargazing Live are expected to exceed 6 million and Derby featured prominently. This is a very proud moment for Derby and thank you all for helping make this happen.”
Alvaston Park Friends, Derby City Council, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby and District Astronomical Society, The Mad Hatter’s Tea Room and Interactive Science Ltd are all coming together to celebrate with a Star Party this weekend at Alvaston Park.
Fun and games in store at Whitemoss Club for Young People in Blackley, Manchester on November 3 as the group holds a sports day to promote its new multi-use games area, funded by Community Spaces.
Why not get along and test your skills?
More information on the group’s Facebook page
Heeley Development Trust in Sheffield has teamed up with music promoters Four Rivers to hold The Big Boulder, a free party on Saturday (September 22) to launch new facilities in Heeley Millennium Park – a Community Spaces Flagship project.
The Big Boulder takes its name from the iconic climbing boulder loved by the city’s climbers.
The Trust intends that the festival of roots music will become an annual event.
The park, Sheffield’s largest community owned and managed space, has undergone an exciting transformation over the past 12 months, with a grant from the Big Lottery Community Spaces programme.
The grant and the subsequent work is the result of over 10 years work by staff at Heeley Development Trust. Impressive new features include swings in the playground, a woodland mountain bike trail and BMX pump track, and a community orchard, in addition to landscaping and planting work across the park.
Further attractions, including a series of new climbing boulders, discovery trails, picnic areas and a multi-use games area, are still to come this autumn.
Artists taking part at Saturday’s event, which runs from 12.30-6pm, include local funk band Tandem, blues singer Rita Payne, The Silver Darlings, hypno-folk duo Garforth and Myers, Sieben and Orchestre Ruffanti, who perform salsa versions of pop classics.
For more information visit www.heeleyonline.org
A bumper crop of Community Spaces project launches in September, including the launch of the Tees Heritage Park, one of our Flagship projects.
September 1
Elmete Residents Association
Elmete Way
Roundhay
Leeds
LS8 2ND
Natural recreation area
September 1
Sacriston Community and Sports Trust
The Fulforth Centre
Front Street
Sacriston
Durham
DH7 6JT
Playground
Friends of Rectory Park
Church Lane
Thornhill
Dewsbury
West Yorkshire
WF12 0BJ
Path and access improvements in park
September 1
The Ardley with Fewcott Village Hall
Ardley
Bicester
Oxfordshire
OX27 7PA
Playground
September 2
Trefonen Playing Field Association
School Lane
Trefonen
Oswestry
Shropshire
SY10 9DY
Paths and environmental improvements
September 8
Friends of Hall Street Green
Hall Street
Cheadle
Cheshire
SK8 1PJ
Pathway and environmental improvements
September 8
Foxhole Recreational Ground Charity
Goverseth Road
Foxhole
Cornwall
PL26 7UP
Playground
September 8
Friends of Dartmouth Park
West Bromwich
West Midlands
B71 4AS
Community sensory garden
September 8
Friends of Skelton Grange
Skelton Grange Environment Centre
Skelton Grange Road
Stourton
Leeds
LS10 1RS
Nature and discovery trail
September 12
Friends of Stadt Moers
Stadt Moers Country Park
Pottery Lane
Whiston
Merseyside
L35 3RG
Environmental and park improvements
September 15
St James Home Zone Steering Group
St James’s Square
Bournemouth
Dorset
BH5 2BX
Public green space at heart of Home Zone
September 20
Tees Heritage Park
Preston Hall
Cleveland
TS18 3RH
Major development to create Tees Heritage Park
September 22
Menheniot Parish Plan Group
The Village Green
Menheniot
Liskeard
Cornwall
PL14 3QR
Environmental improvements/planting at heart of village
September 22
St Andrew’s Community Outreach
St Andrew’s Church
Ilford
Essex
IG1 3PE
Churchyard/community garden improvements
September 22
Vision for Wroughton
Devizes Road
Wroughton
Swindon
Wiltshire
SN4 9LW
Community garden/leisure space
September 22
Friends of Chinbrook Meadows
Amblecote Road
Lewisham
London
SE12 9RZ
Playground
September 23
Tees Heritage Park
Preston Hall
Cleveland
TS18 3RH
Second phase of opening celebrations, to include AGM of Friends of Tees Heritage Park
September 23
The Burgess Park Food Project
Burgess Park/Surrey Canal Walk
Peckham
London
SE15 6NF
Community garden
September 29
Frome Recreation and Open Grounds Supporters
Market Yard
Frome
Somerset
BA11 1BE
Bike track, play area, community art
September 29
St John’s Open Spaces Community Project
St John’s Road
Buxton
Derbyshire
SK17 6XN
Churchyard improvements
September 29
Viewpoint Action Group
Church View Flats Play Area
Church View
Filton
Bristol
BS34 7BT
Playground
The Heeley Development Trust in Sheffield has been busy over the summer organising a range of activities in the Millennium Park for children and families.
The Park, a Community Spaces Flagship project, is proving a major attraction for families throughout the area.
Simon Bartles from the Trust reports: “Children from around Heeley have come out in force to participate in our Come Out to Play programme of activities.
“The four sessions have each followed a different theme and offered local families the chance to play together, explore the new features in the park and simply enjoy being outdoors.
“Whoosh! Zoom! Whee! was a workshop to create gliders and anything else that flies or floats in the breeze. Ahoy there me hearties! was a day of pirate-themed fun – fancy dress picnic, crafts, treasure hunt and a visit from Captain Taggy, leader of the Millennium Park Pirates. Get Your Hunt On offered families the chance to scavenge on our nature hunt and explore the park in discovery trail. And Raaa! was a noisy and colourful affair of bongos, percussion instrument crafting and face and body paint – tribal style.
“We’ve been successful in encouraging families to spend time in the park simply enjoying picnics and playing out, while promoting the fantastic new features that the park offers, including new swings in the playground and a mountain bike trail.
“As one parent commented, ‘Tuesdays have now become park day and we all enjoy whatever activity is running’, while another requested ‘more of the same please, this is great’.”
Project co-ordinator Phil Creek and Wendy Jenkins, Programmes Director at Groundwork UK, with some of the children who created giant flowers for the Royal visit
The Duchess of Cornwall was greeted by a display of 120 giant resin flowers – part of a Community Spaces Flagship project – when she visited Exeter Cathedral’s Majesty Flower Festival.
Children from 46 Devon and Torbay schools decorated the glassfibre resin flowers to form a guard of honour for the Duchess. The designs follow a theme entitled ‘The Colours of the Commonwealth’ based on ideas developed from studying artists and art from 53 Commonwealth nations.
The flowers were funded with a sustainability grant from Community Spaces, which helps projects to continue to have an impact after the major work has been completed. Last year saw the launch of a £450,000 Community Spaces project on the Cathedral Green, part of a masterplan designed to create new pathways, lighting and planting as well as places to sit and enjoy the improved landscape.
The flower project was led by the Devon Learning and Development Partnership, which last year helped children to decorate 170 life-size sheep that adorned the Green as the project was launched.
The sun – remember that?! – shone for the launch of the Heritage Trail at Bold Venture Park in Darwen.
The Friends of Bold Venture Park commissioned local sculptor Marjan Wouda to create a series of artworks – most of them suspended from trees – to commemorate a flood that swept through the area’s slums in 1848, killing 12 people.
Marjan says: “There was such a sadness about the story. Creating the sculptures has been quite a challenge. I wanted to make a series of sculptures unique to the park and I looked to the town’s history for inspiration.”
A BBC gallery of pictures gives a good impression of what Marjan and the group have created.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
See all these images at the Community Spaces Flickr Pool.
Image from the Community Spaces Flickr Group
