Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Future Parks Newsletter – July 2022

Gabriella Yeomans — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 15:05:58 +0000

What’s on Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Future Parks

Welcome to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Future Parks July Newsletter. In this newsletter we are celebrating parks and the range of benefits parks bring to local communities. Love Parks week commences on the 29th July to the 5th August, the Future Parks Team are celebrating by announcing the Photo Competition Winners and highlighting ‘Why we Love Our Parks’ Keep reading to find out more.

Stunning Entries Win Parks #LetsGetOutdoors Photo Competition

Three stunning photographs have come out on top of a competition to showcase Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s brilliant parks.

The competition formed part of the #LetsGetOutdoors campaign highlighting the physical and mental health benefits that come from spending time in green spaces.

The first photo is from Joanna Thomson and was taken at Milton Country Park and earned her a pair of tickets to Winter Lights at Anglesey Abbey, courtesy of the National Trust.

Another prize was won by Kim Taylor for her photo at Wisbech Park (Second Photo) which secured her a boat trip for four at Wicken Fen, also courtesy of the National Trust.

The last prize went to Andrew Hart for his photo of Ferry Meadows (Third Photo), and his prize courtesy of Nene Park Trust is a private trip on board its electric boat Wyndham. This will be an opportunity to take an otters-eye view of Nene Park, its thriving wildlife and inspiring landscape, for up to 12 people.

Thank you to all that sent in your pictures, check out Cambs Open Space and your photo might have been chosen to represent your favourite park.

Jargon Buster!

Our Jargon Buster is your open access guide to technical terms, new ideas, and changes in the way we talk about parks and open spaces. Having a common language to describe of the value of parks and open spaces will strengthen our collective capacity to advocate for positive change.

This month, we explore what we mean when we talk about Greenspace Stewardship.

Greenspace Stewardship is defined by the TCPA as ‘The actions taken by individuals, local community groups, local stakeholders and management organisations, with shared motivations and values, to protect, care for or responsibly use local parks and greenspaces in pursuit of a range of shared environmental and social outcomes in an economically viable manner.’

Upcoming Events

Natural Capital Finance & Investment Conference 1st October (London) & 1stNovember (Edinburgh): Join us at the fifth Natural Capital Finance & Investment Conference to hear the UK’s leaders in natural capital finance sharing how to harness nature-based opportunities for nature and climate. The event will bring together project pipeline, corporate and financial services professionals, and provides an unrivalled networking and innovation opportunity. Register here.

Groundwork, Green Team, Starting from 19th July: Providing support, training and work experience to help participants improve their landscaping skills, and employability whilst working on a real-life community project. This project will be running 3days a week (Tuesday -Thursday) from 10am – 3pm for the next14 weeks. To find out more information visit the Groundwork website. You can also apply via this link here.

Cambs Open Space Website: Get ready for the Summer, a range of activities and events have been added to the Cambs Open Space website – find your nearest event to attend this summer here.

Love Parks Week – 29th July – 5th August

As part of Love Parks Week, the Future Parks Team asked for stories on what you love about your parks and will be sharing your stories on tweeter during the week.

We also asked our competition winners, why they loved their parks and the influence behind the photo. Joanna submitted a photo of Milton Country Park and explains the importance of educating her children from a young age about nature.

Joanna said: “It can be challenging to entice our children outside at times, yet we know being outside and exploring the world draws out of them a lot of engagement, curiosity and camaraderie.

“We love the many different experiences Milton County Park packs into the space -the den building, space for running, the animal and mini beast habitats to observe, the shade for walking, and the colours of the trees and water. (The adventure playground and café are also an enticement!).

“We especially notice the way we slow down and take time to see the world around us at the park. The photograph is of my children gazing into the water at the little fish and talking about how they move. They watched the swans (which they have name dafter characters from their favourite book about creatures in the wild – The Wild Robot) and tell stories about what they are up to.

“We spent a long time once observing how the grain for the birds spun when entering the water, and have sat for ages with long grasses tied around sticks as fishing rods. We haven’t had to encourage this kind of imaginative play and conversation with them when at the park – they are inspired when taking time to take in their environment.”

Send us your stories at FutureParks@Cambridgeshire.gov.ukor tweet us at @CPFutureParks with the hashtag #LetsGetOutdoors and we will share the best ones.

General Interest

Camden & Islington Councils, The Parks for Health Strategy: Funding from the Future Parks Accelerator Cohort, both councils have been working to identify barriers that people face using parks and have develop a strategy to reduce these barriers by 2030. Visit both Camden’s and Islington’s website to read the strategy in full.

South Cambridgeshire District Council, Children’s Area Partnership Grants, Update: Back in 2020 Cambourne Village College and Shelford and Stapleford Youth Initiative (SSSYI) received funding to improve mental and physical health and access to education for young people. Two years on a sensory garden, outdoor natural play space and woodland trails have been completed. Young volunteers designed and made the signs, learning new skills such as digging etc and has received positive feedback. Read more on South Cambridgeshire website.

Fields In Trust, Vote for UK’s Favourite Park 2022: In the June newsletter, we reported on nominating your favourite park. Nominations are now closed and voting is open! Head over to the Fields In Trust website to vote for Cambridgeshire’s and Peterborough Parks and Open Spaces.

Butterfly Conservation, Big Butterfly Count: A national wide citizen science survey, are asking you to count butterflies for 15minutes during the day and record using the iRecord Butterflies App. So whether you are taking a quick break in the sunshine or taking the dog for a walk, help record the Butterfly population between the 15th July – 7th August. Find out more information on the Butterfly Conservation website.

Play Day, 3rd August: Playday is the National Day for play, held on the first Wednesday in August, celebrating children’s right to play and importance to play. Head over to the Playday website, to see what events/ activities are happening in your area.

Natural England, Nature Recovery Network Gathering: On 13th July, some of the biggest organisations and businesses in the country gathered to map out how they can work together to reverse nature decline. Read more on gov.uk website to find out more on the collaborative action needed to drive Nature Recovery Network.

Green Flag Awards, Winners Announced: The Green Flag Award is proud to announce that 2,208 parks and green spaces across the UK will fly the flag for 2022/2023. See if your park has been awarded a green flag here.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Parks Offer Benefits Valued at £375m a Year

A recent analysis from the Office of National Statistics have valued the UKs parks associated with outdoor activities, estimated between £6.2billion – £.4billion. Estimates analyse provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services and concluded between2009 – 2020 recreational visit in urban settings accounted for over 50% of total health benefits.

A similar analysis performed as part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Future Park Programme. Parks in the county deliver over £375m of health, climate change and environmental benefits each year. With £316m per year currently resulting from health benefits, including mental wellbeing (offering £14 per visit) and physical activity (offering £7per visit).

Our mailing address is:

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Future Parks

Alconbury Weald, PE28 4YE

Cambridgeshire

United Kingdoms

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