2013 Aspirations, plans and making it happen!

Date:  2 Aug 2013

Aspirations, plans and making it happen!

It all takes time but many hands make light work, get involved it can be fun.

The formal bit....  FoKNP Committee

Saturday meets at 11 am Kings Norton Library unless otherwise stated

•           2 March
•           18 May AGM  -  Start 11 am all welcome!
•           14 September
•           9 November

We will also arrange adhoc planning meetings from time to time, you can get involved email if you are interested.


FoKNP Committee members are:

Chair - Lynn Horsnett
Secretary - Dinny Weston
Treasurer - Lucy Horsnett
Environment - Chris Hughes
Young Persons - Andy Ryan
Cttee members:    Liz Wilson, Claire Simpson, Maggie Sweet

If you are interested in being a committee member please do not hestitate to contact us.


One off events so far... and what ever you wish to organise, we can support each other 

• 1 March – The Big Plant with Trees for Life and Kings Norton I&J School – success.
• 10 May - wetland wildlife survey (NIA) & clean up.  10.30 am - bring gloves and wellies!
• 1 June  – Wild About Birds 11.30am hedgehogs, Nat Trust, Cotswold Falconry, rangers
• 13 July – Kings Norton Festival/Farmers Market Activity Stall
• 9 August - National Play Day in Kings Norton Park
• 14 September - Farmers Market Help out
• October - Farmers Market Stall - consult on NIA and edible flower bed
• December - Winter Fayres

Regular hands on in the Park or Playing Fields .... Monthly Workouts  

11 am on the first Friday of each month meet in the car park weather permitting.  This is a suggested programme of workout activities which will act as a guide but may change according to priorities.
•           3 May – Canal Feeder tidying and weeding - bring loppers, clippers and gloves
•           7 June – Tree Survey, Flower meadow,
•           5 July –  Shrub beds, Tree Survey Top
•           2 Aug –  Playing Fields Canal Feeder & River Rea
•           6 Sept – Autumn tidy and planning wetland area
•           4 Oct –  Shrub Beds prune and split
•           8 Nov – Border areas practical & leaf collecting
•           6 Dec – Winter tidy up

We have met some people who weed or litter pick at their own convenience - many thanks to you, please keep up the good work!

Aspirations and focus... things we are working on in  2013

Below are things the Friends group have been working on recently and  – but don’t forget we can include the things you would help become a reality too, and with more help comes a wider focus.

•           Leaflet  - FoKNP leaflet (completed), needs a community wide circulation
•           A4A purchases – of equipment and resources - now underway
•           Bins, benches & notice board -  underway
•           Wild Bird Event – rescheduled event now on 1 June at 11.30am until 2.30pm
•           Trees  – plant standards & whips – completed. Explore tree trail funding
•           Tree Survey – Opal national survey packs - until September
•           Canal Feeder  –  cleaner (litter picked April), unclogged (partly April) & reduce weeds
•           Wetland – Survey with NIA 3 May. Apply for funding NIA & approach businesses
•           Storage facility – renovation funding, clean, recycling bins (playing fields) - Football teams
•           Shrub Beds – patch (1 bed), weed & mulch, cut back and separate shrubs in autumn
•           Wild Flower Meadow- more seeds (Feb) & cut and remove (autumn)
•           Bridges – explore funding following Wetland project

If you are interested in getting involved in the organising and planning of any of these particular aspects of the park please drop us an email.

info.foknp@gmail.com
@kingsnortonpark

AGM - Officers and agreed priorities 2013

What we did at our AGM on 18 May 13

Elected the following officers 2013/14

Chair:   Lynn Horsnett

Secretary:   Dinny Weston 

Treasurer:  Lucy Horsnett

Environment:  Chris Hughes

Young members:  Andy Ryan (pending acceptance)

Committee members for 2013/14:  

Liz Wilson,  Claire Simpson, Maggie Sweet & 1 vacancy

             

 Remember you don't have to be on the Committee to have your say or get involved . 

Email info.foknp@gmail.com

We recognised all the wonderful things done so far and said thank-you

Refurbishing play area, restoring Civic Garden, shrub and tree planting, establishing a flower meadow, new benches, new bins, 1920's event, activities with schools, mass litter picking, linking up with Birmingham Spaces Forum, Gap project support with National Trust,  Willow work with Millennium Fields Trust, cleaning canal feeder,  supporting Canals and Rivers Trust to clean Kings Norton, etc.     

We thank everyone for everything you do   

We are aware some people regularly clean our park and tidy our beds in their own time outside of our workouts - a big thank you, and of course we should thank workers from Birmingham City Parks and the Canals and River Trust who tend to the majority of parks works throughout the year, thank you.  We recognised those who helped to fund us last year - Big Lottery, West Midlands Police, Community Chest and membership donations. 

We discussed our priorities for remainder of 2013

Investigating the creation of a wetland area 

The site identified was a former lily pond , an historic marl pit and other natural areas hopefully to be funded by the Nature Improvement Fund.  Initial positive surveys have taken place but there are many barriers to overcome.  We will work with Simon Atkinson, Hannah and James from NIA.   You are welcome to get involved with this project if you wish. 

 Spending our lottery award by November 2013      

In Includes events packs, environmental equipment, aids, tools, noticeboards, protective clothing, 

wild about birds event, etc. 

Refurbishing the Pod

This is a metal storage and hopefully future meeting facility on playing fields. 

It will be shared with the Football Teams and Community Police. 

There will electricity, toilets and recycling bins - the football teams are doing lots of work to identify funding.

Maintaining Shrub beds

Replenishing, weeding, mulching, pruning Lower Civic Garden beds this autumn.  

Need shrubs tolerant of water in beds 3 & 4.

Wild About Birds Event

To put on an event opening activity in the park, includes Cotswold Birds of Prey, RSPB, Hedghog Charity, Lickey Hub rangers team and parks activities. 

Opal Tree Survey

To complement the focus on tree planting we hope to survey our main trees and contribute our findings to the national Opal tree survey which runs from May to Sept 2013.  

100 packs had been sent by Adam Bates.  We hope to work with local groups or schools. 

Canal Feeder Bridges

A section 106 funding principle had been previously made.  Our intention is to pursue as the bridges are in very poor condition.   This work will only be completed with the support of our elected representatives; Steve Bedser, Valerie Seabright and Peter Griffiths and our constituency parks manager, Sue Amey as well as volunteers. 

History Trail

Working with the Lifford Business Association, Kings Norton History Society and Kings Norton Nature to produce a circular history trail starting from The Green, walking through the park, along the nature reserve.  This will be walk number 4, of a set which cost £1 each and can be purchased from shops on The Green.  This should be available late summer early autumn. 

              Join in and take the steps towards making the things you want to see in our Park happen.

Contact us at :  info.foknp@gmail.com

Keeping the Park Clean 1st Friday in month 11.30am

Can you spare an hour on a Friday morning to help litter pick in Kings Norton Park?   It would be super if you could.

           Meet us in the car park bring gloves and pickers if you have them, if not you can borrow ours.

            We aim to clean-up where litter has become ingrained over a period of time.  
     We meet on the first Friday of each month at 11.30 am.
We also do other things like plant, survey and plan events and activities. 

Some of the volunteers removing rubbish along Canal Feeder

Removing rubbish embedded in copper hedges

Future Events

Friday 7 June - workout in park at 11.30am

Saturday 13 July Kings Norton Festival Activity Stall 11.30am

              Also see our Aspirations, Plans and Making it Happen article last updated 28 April 2013 and
our AGM report back.

Contact us at :   info.foknp@gmail.co.uk

Tweet:  @kingsnortonpark

Wild about Birds NEW DATE 1 June 2013

 

NEW DATE

Wild About Birds 

 Kings Norton Park

Saturday 1 June 2013

11.30 am to 2.30pm

FREE EVENT

Discover who occupies the skies and take part in activities

Please leave your dog at home

or keep on lead

Birds of Prey Display by Cotswold Falconry

Activities with the Lickey Hub Rangers

 the National Trust and RSPB

 

Contact:   Friends of Kings Norton Park

Info.foknp@gmail.com

www.friendsofkingsnortonpark.blogspot.com

@kingsnortonpark

A Fantastic Big Plant... trees!

 What a fantastic day!

300 whips, 10 standard trees and a flower bed all before lunch.

Trees for Life and Birmingham Parks Department certainly know to work smoothly with schools and business.  Thank you for all your preparatory work and a very professional and smooth implementation.  

Massive thanks to the wonderful pupils of Kings Norton Junior and Infant School and accompanying teachers and parents.  Who like a huge long red caterpillar twisted through the park along the canal feeder, over the bridge and across the informal football pitch and gathered before Steve, Senior Ranger for a thoroughly entertaining and very important, but humorous brief>  Pupils they found their feet and dived into planting... all whips going the right way up!   Well done everyone you were all absolutely brilliant, thank you.  


The School Council, during a change over of classes shared their interest and environmental knowledge in a discussion about trees and wildlife.   I learned a lot!.   The 3 Oak trees which form a line, the 4th Oak having been previously cut down, are just above the strip where the whips have been planted.  Having been recently measured the mature Oaks are known to be about 200 years old and were planted to create a border of between two fields, which were arable and pasture land, once called School House Field and Church Field.

We would like to invite King Norton Junior and Infant School to come back periodically to study the trees growth and development and to join in other environmental activities.

This event was only made possible this year due to the financial support by Trees for Life and their co-sponsors, Deutsche Bank.  They are a fairly new business in Birmingham who not only donated funds but in taking their community responsibilities very seriously, release  staff for 2 days a year to get involved with different aspects of community.  Twenty of Deutsche Bank's enthusiastic staff members shared the planting experience with pupils, teachers, parents, volunteers and parks staff on the day.  The result 10 large ornate trees, which will in time form part of a tree trail and 300 whips which when developed will form a natural  corridor between the formal Park and the River Rea.  By midday, the DB team who were also in red, had worked very hard all morning without a break, could safely say  'the prospect for growth in the park had substantially increased'!

BCC Parks donated shrubs to pad out a failing shrub bed which had become immersed during the flooding season and Friends planted up after helping with the trees.   A big thank to you, particularly those who consistently help out in a number of different ways.

Future ventures to help plan and get hands on involved include:

• Wildlife event 23 March - . 11 pm until 2 pm.
• A Wetland Area in the old Marl Pit - planning, sourcing funds and practical side
• Tree Trail - source funds, design and print
• First Friday in the month at the Park at 11.30 am for tidying up beds, pruning and other such tasks.  Come along, its good company too. 

Get in touch with us at:  info.foknp@gmail.com

Big Thank You Big Lottery for £9,984 award!

The Friends of King Norton Park are thrilled to announce that The Big Lottery has awarded the group £9,984 for a 2013 project to help bring improvements and activity into its open spaces.

The Friends will be able to start to share this good news and ideas for the future with the community at their stall at the Kings Norton Christmas Farmers Market on The Green in Kings Norton tonight (Thurs 20 December) from 6pm.  

Lynn Horsnett, Chair of Friends of Kings Norton Park, said

“This is really super news for Kings Norton we are thrilled to receive our first funding award from the Big Lottery.  It now means we can purchase equipment, tools, a notice board, more bins and benches and some environmental study aids. This will help encourage more community active in our Park”



Early planning work on shrub beds



Lynn further explains

 

“Our Friends group first got active to save our rose beds, we realised people were really upset about the prospect of losing them due to cuts.  So with guidance from Sue Amey, Northfield and Edgbaston Constituency Parks Manager, our local rangers at the Lickey Hub and Sarah Royal of Birmingham Open Spaces Forum, local people were able to adopt them.  We have helped design and plant up new shrub in the beds and now maintain four beds which provide all year interest and pleasure”

 

“We are keen to grow and work with other local groups and schools to enhance our the Park and Playing Fields and peoples experiences. The Big Lottery grant will equip us to develop areas of our park and organise different types of activities.  We hope we can help to stimulate fun learning opportunities for everyone by exploring its facilities, natural environment and local history’





The Friends is a new group who have already helped bring about the refurbishment of the children’s play area and the restoration of the Upper Civic Garden (which included installing new stone benches similar to those of the Civic Society’s original 1920’s design).     They have also planted about 150 tree whips, a small orchard of fruit trees and are developing a wild flower meadow.

Ideas for future projects include:

·         A spring time community event,



·         Refurbishing the PODs in the playing fields into usable community spaces

·         Creating a wetland area in the former pond area

  

Membership is free and open to anyone in the community:  Email  Info.foknp@gmail.com



Winter tidy up in Kings Norton Park.

Tidy for Winter 

(and next meet)

Thanks to everyone who turned out to tidy up the shrub beds ... we extend a very warm welcome to our new active member, Uncle Albert who saw himself in one of our display photographs in Kings Norton Library and thought he should get involved.  The photograph is the one featuring our last park keeper.   

Having been weeded and turned over, the soil is now aerated and gullied to provide some drainage.  The beds are full of winter interest demonstrating why the original design was award winning.  

Well we ought say, three beds are, the fourth, the crescent shaped bed at the end, although supporting a beautiful slender silver birch is otherwise failing.   We hope to plant this up with plants and grasses that are very water tolerant at our next work out which is, as normal, the first Friday of the month, the next being the 7 December, usual time, 11.30 am.   We will also mulch.

Hope to see you on 7th if not before!

This fungi was found growing next to the car park.. any ideas what it sis?

PLEASE NOTE:  

Next Committee meeting has been moved from Sat 24 Nov to Sat 8 December at 11.30 am at Kings Norton Library.   There is farmers market on the Green and book fayre at St Nicolas place that day... please visit too.   

Please join us if you want to share a cuppa and plan your Park ideas.