Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Blooming good shrub beds in Kings Norton Park!

How refreshing, we now have four very smart well stocked and mulched shrub beds in Kings Norton Park.

Thank you to everyone who did something to make it happen; our members, the City Parks Department (especially Sue Amey), our Rangers, BOSFA,  Kings Heath Park gardeners, members of Kings Norton Nature Reserve, The Fields Millenium Green Trust,  Kings Norton History Society, the Street Champions, the graffiti team,  Kings Norton Nursery children, Fairway Centre users and local police.

Monday 7th March, threatened frost again but thankfully turned into a warm spring like day.  There was a buzz of excitement as the plants arrived and were laid according to the design plan - gentle sways of sustainable all year colour.   As the pots were laid out the graffiti team were busy giving the benches a lick of smart black paint.  Once the floral shape was drawn we watched a demonstration on how the experts plants and the armed with spades everyone set to it.  We working from the top central bed to the crescent boarder bed, culminating in a central silver birch which delightfully contrasted against the bronze beech hedges.   We progressed  much quicker than imagined so within 3 hours were able to admire the results of our labour and retire to The Camp for a welcoming buffet.
 

The following week’s weather brought warmth, light and rain, which helped establish our shrubs.   The sun was shinning brightly on Sunday 13th March as local residents returned to mulch the planted beds with shavings from last years recycled Christmas trees.  A good 2 inches cover, said to be sufficient to retain moisture and prevent unwanted weeds, was shovelled, barrowed, raked and spread over the surface whilst other volunteers picked up glass, dog droppings and litter which blighted the hedgerows.    We were completed by 2 pm,  It was very rewarding as the area now looks good enough to sit and relax in!


Thank you to everyone involved for your company, effort, tools and time.  We hope you will join us in helping to care for our plants.  We also aim to facilitate fun and educational activities and invite your ideas and contribution in to our park.  Contact us at Info.foknp@gmail.com   follow us at http://friendsofkingsnortonpark.blogspot.com/



The Planning Begins



The first plants are laid out


                                         The hard work starts                                                  
We've already finished our job! (Painting the benches)
Well done chaps!

It's starting to take shape!

Hello, hello, hello!

A great view of our A(handy) work!

Friends of Kings Norton Park get stuck in!


A last, some refreshments!

Looking Good eh!

Where's that missing Begonia gone?

Take your pick!







Our Chair, Lynn, ahh!


Everyone getting stuck in!


Say Cheese!

A finished bed

Finished at last! All this planting was driving me potty!

Monday, March 7, 2011

After the snow, the rain, after the rain the sun!

Hi folks, here is The Friends of Kings Norton Park update.

After the snow, the rain, after the rain the sun! 

The beds are cleared and ready for us to begin our transformation shrub planting.  We have two sessions planned, hopefully both sunny and dry days on Monday 7 March and Sunday 13 March 2011.  

Drop in on any or both days and at any time between 11am - 3pm or stay for the day! 

FREE EVENT OPEN TO ALL

Bring your spades, forks, family & friends

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The Fields Millennium Green Trust

We also supported Maggie & Clive Sweet at The Fields Millennium Green Trust on Sunday 20th February at their Den-Building afternoon.

We had great fun helping the kids build dens out of freshly coppiced willow and hazel. It took some of us right back to our own childhood! All of the kids and parents who turned up that day were fantastic! The team who designed and built the winning Den did it virtually all on their own, with a little bit of encouragement from Lynn and Chris! Check out our photo's below!

We at FoKNP are keen to develop and promote outdoor environmental education experiences for children of all ages - especially in light of the devastating cuts in environmental education in schools and outdoor centres!

If you too are unhappy at these cuts you might want to check out http://www.coalitionofresistance.com/ and make your voice heard!



And the winner is...er..well...us actually! 
The Fantastic runners-up! Good enough to live in eh!
Proud Winners!

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Environmental Conference at the Lickey Hills

On Saturday 19th February a couple of us attended an environmental conference at the Lickey Hills Centre. It was hosted by the Rangers Service in conjunction with FEI~Forest Education Initiative ~ http://www.foresteducation.org/.

The highlight of the day was an inspirational talk by Sue Fenoughty from the National Association for Environmental Education (NAEE) ~ http://www.naeeuk.plus.com/index.htm.

We were really struck at how passionate this group were in delivering their aims of supporting those teaching environmental education. Watch this space for more on this in the near future.