Octavia Hill

Do you know someone who’s worked tirelessly to protect a patch of green space near you? Have you got a favourite teacher who’s inspired you to do something for nature? Or is there a famous person who’s challenging the system to make life better that you admire?

If so, they could be a candidate for a new award named after Octavia Hill, a Victorian social reformer and a founder of the National Trust. The Octavia Hill Awards aim to find the modern-day champions and guardians of our precious outdoor spaces.

Octavia Hill died in 1912 and to mark the centenary the National Trust, in partnership with Countryfile Magazine, is offering six awards that celebrate individuals and groups that are keeping Octavia Hill’s legacy alive:

• Growing Hero – this award could be someone who’s set up a community growing scheme, or saved allotments and made a real difference.

• Natural Hero – for individuals working for community spaces that matter to people and wildlife – in woodlands, nature reserves or orchards.

• Inspirational Hero – recognising someone, perhaps a teacher, youth worker or ranger/warden, inspiring and nurturing the next generation of enthusiasts.

• The People’s Campaigner celebrates a person in the public spotlight who has done something amazing to champion an issue or cause.

• Green Space Guardians – this award is for a group or organisation, big or small, that has created a lot of noise (locally or nationally) to champion green spaces and places.

• ‘Love Places’ award – specifically for National Trust volunteers, individuals or groups who have enabled local communities to benefit from the open places that are important to them.

The awards are open to all ages and will be given for work carried out between January 1 2010 and December 31 2011. The closing date for entries is Monday January 16.

Full details of how to enter can be found here

The winners will be announced in June 2012 and profiled in Countryfile Magazine.

Groundwork has launched My Urban Oasis – an online interactive map that helps users to identify quality local green spaces. My Urban Oasis includes over 200 personal recommendations of great places to visit – uploaded by users of Orange’s ‘Do Some Good’ smart phone app, together with over 1,000 Groundwork green space projects across the UK.

Look out for your Community Spaces project – all completed projects will be featured.

For more information click here

 Publications include:

• Managing green spaces: seven ingredients for success,
• Community-led spaces: a guide for local authorities and community groups
• Community green: using local spaces to tackle inequality and improve health.

Stocks are limited, so it’s on a first come, first serve basis. So to place an order for a FREE copy of any of their publications, click here.

Alternatively, you can download and electronic version here.

Celebrity gardener Chris Beardshaw (pictured above) joined Groundwork’s Community Spaces team earlier this week at an event in Westminster to bring green space organisations together to discuss the future of our parks, playgrounds and community gardens at a time of cuts to public spending.

With a Groundwork commissioned ComRes survey of 443 local government councilors indicating nearly 50% feel their councils would be reducing their level of maintenance for green spaces due to budget constraints, we at Community Spaces are determined to highlight the value of these local green spaces to communities, and to not let the issue fall off the government’s agenda.

The event – introduced by Chris Beardshaw – pulled together organisations such as Natural England, The London Wildlife Trust and BTCV and included a discussion on how we can all work together to ensure communities continue to have access to quality urban green spaces and the chance to have their say on how they’re maintained.

We’re very pleased to say that the event was a huge success!  Every organisation that took part had a tremendous appetite to tackle the issue head on to make sure communities receive the support needed to thrive and improve their local environment.

To see the difference that Community Spaces has already made to local communities across England, please watch the short video below.

Has your Community Spaces garden or allotment been made possible by the hard work and dedication of one individual or a small group of people?

Well, you could recognise their commitment by nominating them for the ‘Gardening Against the Odds Award.’ The competition is being run by the Daily Telegraph in association with the Conservation Foundation and Green & Blacks, and is dedicated to the memory of the Sunday Telegraph writer, Elspeth Thompson, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

 The entries can be on behalf of individual gardeners or small communities who have overcome obstacles such as creating a garden in an unlikely or hospitable corner or gardening in the face of physical or mental health problems such as depression or grief.

You can enter yourself, or nominate a friend by downloading an application form at www.telegraph.co.uk/gardeningawards.

A selection of the best entries will be posted on the Telegraph gardening website. For more information about the award and how you can enter, visit: www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening

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 24^th July, and continues all week until the 1^st 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