Friends of Preston Park

And here are some pics. Click the button in the bottom right of the slide show to display full screen. If they’re not displaying on your tablet or phone, click here.

Last Wednesday saw the opening of the new pond area of the Rock Garden. Here is a transcript of Pete’s speech:

Welcome and thank you everyone for coming along today. It was only April last year when we gathered here before to re-open the new look gardens, so like me you may be feeling a slight sense of deja vous.

On that occasion we came together to celebrate all the changes and the hard work so many people had contributed to make the restoration of the rockery possible.

For a long year City Parks staff had worked so very hard with the Friends of Preston Park, Community Pay-back, local school children and a host of volunteer groups from across the city.

This work included planting 5,000 bulbs and 300 trees, constructing steps, renovating benches and restoring the pump house.

Biodiversity was also increased with the addition of the chalk grass bank and native wildflowers – which we can see today is clearly attracting and benefitting wildlife.

So I would first of all like to acknowledge that hard work and achievement once again.

As you know to our dismay we discovered that the pond had a leak which had to be repaired. Work to deal with this was then planned for early this year and to be completed while wildlife were less active. The pond hadn’t been drained for 30 years and when we got to the bottom of it, the job turned out to be bigger and more complex than expected. The weather, as ever, played it’s part too.

To give some idea of what has been entailed, I understand 150 tonnes of silt and 50 tonnes of rocks debris has been removed. We also had to remove around 1500 fish which were looked after by specialists. And great care was also taken to safeguard amphibians which were able to continue living in the cascade pools.

But it has been a challenging time with inaccurate and exaggerated press reports causing great distress our staff, all of whom care very greatly about our local wildlife. So I would like to express my great thanks to the many contractors, who have been absolutely superb, and the Friends of Preston Park in particular for their support throughout this difficult time. Your support has been so very important to us.

I’m glad to say the pond is now relined with fiberglass sealing the many cracks that were found. Fish are back in and breeding already. And we have also built some marginal areas around the pond to increase the variety of habitat.

As I say, it is 30 years since the last restoration of the pond, and I am sure all the work on the entire rockery will stand in good stead for the future enjoyment of this amazing place, hopefully for at least the next 30 years and maybe beyond.

City Parks could not have achieved this alone nor wanted to. This is a community achievement, and I offer thanks to everyone who has taken part. Your effort has been tremendous. Thank you.

We are looking for volunteers to come along on Saturday 17th August to help take care of our beautiful garden with us. Tea and coffee will be provided!

No experience is necessary, but please wear suitable shoes and bring gloves if you have them. All tools will be provided. Accompanied children are very welcome.

For more information please contact: emma.keane@brighton-hove.gov.uk or telephone 01273 292929.

If you haven’t seen the new wildflower meadow near the Rotunda then you should make plans to take a look. These photos from Tony Benton give you an idea:

Preston Park Soccer School has been in existence since 1993 providing opportunities for boys and girls from 4½ to 12. The players are split into groups based on age and ability. The format of the training session is usually a warm up, followed by football related drills and exercises ending in a number of small-sided football matches.

Session run on Saturdays from 10 to 12.15. In addition, they will be running two football courses during the Summer 2013 holidays:

• 5 day course – 12th – 16th August 2013 (10am-3pm)
• 5 day course – 19th – 23rd August 2013 (10am-3pm)

You can find out more details on their site or by emailing Mat at matthewHknott@hotmail.com or Ash on juniorashjones@yahoo.co.uk.

PC Simon Turvey will be holding a bike/scooter security marking surgery on Sunday 2nd June between 11:00 and 13:00 at the cycle track in Preston Park.

The bike marking is free, non-damaging and non-intrusive. The bikes are then registered on the www.immobilse.com database.

Registering details of bicycles online helps police and retailers identify and verify the legitimate owner of bikes and increases chances of reuniting stolen bikes to their rightful owners.

Join us for a Bat Walk in Preston Park on either Monday August 5th or Monday August 12th at 7.30pm. Bring a torch and suitable clothing.

Places are strictly limited, so please book by contacting Emma Keane, the Park Ranger at: emma.keane@brighton-hove.gov.uk

The planting of perennials has begun in the newly-configured flower beds which run parallel to the A23. A large variety of plants has been embedded using a carefully thought-out planting plan. There are a wide variety of plants which are tall and mid-height perennials and grasses as well as edging perennials. For the horticulturally-minded, plants include: 4 different types of sedum, stachys, veronica, salvia; 3 sorts of Echinacea, phlomis, rudbeckia, nepeta and pennisetum. The beds should look lovely once the plants mature. Park staff are putting their energies into this planting so the grass in the park might get a bit longer than usual before it gets its next cut.

Here is one of the beds being planted out.

St Peter’s isn’t officially part of Preston Park. The thirteenth century church (the oldest building in Brighton, believe it or not) is overseen by The Churches Conservation Trust and the churchyard, although cared for by a council staff gardener, is the property of St John’s church. However we thought you’d be interested to know that Preston Park resident Chris Tredgold has volunteered his services to help conserve and enhance the churchyard and to make this historic and atmospheric area a haven for wild flowers and wildlife. Chris has been working one morning a week with 3 other volunteers and, with the collaboration of gardener George Harris, has planted snowdrops and a variety of summer flowers.

Thanks to the Tennis Club and their gardener Judy Martin some hedging has been planted on the wall which borders the tennis courts. They have also worked hard to clear and delineate some of the flat gravestones and to generally spruce up the area. A site plan has been created which, once realised, will see different areas of the graveyard devoted to either close mowing, medium-height wild flower areas or wild areas.

Yes, after many trials and tribulations and unfair press coverage, the Rock Garden is now open and proudly showing off its beautiful new pond. Rock Garden staff mentioned that the project has been the most complex and difficult that they’ve encountered. It was important to mend the leak in the pond: the level was dropping to dangerous levels but the extent of the obstacles that were encountered was unforeseen. ‘Who would have thought that there would be 150 tonnes of silt and many tonnes of rocks to be removed before we could tackle the crack in the pond?’ said a member of park staff. Contrary to a recent press article, the pond was emptied and repaired at the right time of year: the bottom of the pond needed to be dry and reasonably warm for the fibreglass filling to be effective.

Rock Garden gardener Andy Jeavons has worked hard to create a lovely area. The pond frontage has been cleared so that both pond and cascade can be enjoyed from the road and the main park. New raised beds have been built and planted around the edges of the pond and underwater planters created and planted with water plants. For instance, 10 water lilies – two each of pink, 1 white, apricot, yellow and red and all different varieties. There’s also water forget-me-not, marsh marigold, American skunk cabbage, 5 varieties of iris, lobelia cardinalis, pickerel weed, bog arum and ligularia, plus water hawthorn and bog bean.

The cascades were full of tadpoles and other wildlife so when the cascades were switched on the wildlife was washed into the pond and will hopefully thrive. The fish will be introduced back to the pond in stages. A really good bird hide at the top of the garden has now been completed, so bird-lovers will be able to ‘spot’ more effectively. There will be an official opening in the near future to celebrate the achievement.

Nearly there . . .

Finished! 

You can see the cascade just reaching the pond after having been switched on for the first time since the repair work began. The blue plastic sheet is to help all the tadpoles reach the pond safely.