All posts by Sandra Bauer
MORE Lockdown Gallery
Courtesy of John Donnelly
Courtesy of Joyce Smith
Using the park safely during the pandemic
You’ll be aware of the importance of social distancing in the park, tempting as it is to wander. We’d all like to be as carefree as the animals right now! But please obey the rules, and remind others who may forget.
We have received regulations, apologies and encouragement to pass on from the Royal Borough of Greenwich. This is a recap for your information.
- All 2020 Parksfest events are cancelled – we had just begun to plan and book gigs.
- The car park gates will be permanently open from 1 April due to budget cuts. I attended two meetings recently which included the Director and other council officers in Parks and Open Spaces and they will continue to monitor the effects of this action – one that many opposed. Thank you to everyone who answered the last minute call to challenge the consultation, that’s what got us the meeting. There are suggestions to appeal which we will follow up but everyone is currently dealing with priority issues.
- Please have a look at the information below from Rob Goring of Park Dept.
And most of all, continue to appreciate the park. Although we can’t guarantee any walks or events in Shrewsbury Park for the near future, the ideas remain fresh and ready to go.
If you are doing your solitary exercise, listening to the birds and the buds popping open, and you see a photo opportunity or have some creative thoughts please send your pictures to us at werfsp@gmail.com and we’ll add them to a gallery here.
Best wishes for your safety and calm in the coming weeks. Nature is doing it’s best to keep us cheerful.
Kris and the Management Committee
From Rob Goring, Strategy and Development Manager of Parks and Open Spaces:
As of 25 March we will be temporarily closing all:
- Park Playgrounds
- Outdoor gyms
- Park sports facilities
All park cafes should also be closing but some may remain open to provide takeaway services only.
Our parks will remain open to allow people to exercise once a day but people using our parks should social distance and keep at least 2 metres away from people outside their households.
No more than 2 people may gather in our parks and open spaces except where the gathering is of a group of people who live together – this means that a parent can, for example, take their children to the shops if there is no option to leave them at home.
Most parks office staff are remote working i.e. working from home and Grounds Maintenance staff and Park Rangers are not classified as key workers and therefore will not be attending work, in-line with government instructions. However, if possible we may have a couple of Rangers/Ranger Managers working each day to carry out checks in parks.
Our Cemeteries and Crematorium are open and operating as normal but again in line with government instructions people should social distance where possible and keep at least 2 metres away from people outside their households. In terms of people attending funeral services it is advised that only members of the immediate family should attend.
YOUR VOTE COUNTS!
We’d love to find out which project you’d like us to concentrate our efforts on this year?
Last year you chose a picnic bench, which we have now installed!
Please click through below to make your views known. It takes just seconds!
Enter our annual Calendar competition!
If you have been with us for more than a year, you’ll be aware that we run an annual photography competition for our members to find great images which appear in our calendar. Winners receive a copy of the calendar – and the glory of having their picture and name in print!
This year, we have had so much varied weather that we’re sure you have some super shots that you’ve captured in the park – so why not enter them? You must be a member and you can enter a maximum of 3 photographs.
Deadline for Entries
Entries will be judged at our Festival on Sunday 21 July – entries should be emailed to us along with your name!
Image quality & captioning
All photos entered need to be of good quality (typically at least 2mb in size). We’re printing it in square format so do make sure it will resize successfully.
Don’t forget a catchy caption to go with it!
Send the photos to werfsp@gmail.com by our deadline of midnight on 28 June 2019.
A ‘Tree Walk’ in the Park
Today’s Tree Walk was a huge success! We had more than 20 people along to hear John Denton’s wise words. Although it rained a bit, it didn’t put us off learning about the amazing varieties in the park. We were introduced to different kinds of trees – Gmynosperms (naked seeds) and Angiosperms (enclosed seeds).
One young man took on the task of collecting a leaf from every tree we stopped to look at, and he ended up with a very full bag.
Starting in the car park we saw a Common Lime, a Box Elder, a Copper/Purple Beech we moved on to look at a Holly and a False Acacia – in all there were more than 20 trees identified.
Here are the updated documents:
John asked us to add the following:
“On the walk a lady (sorry I didn’t ask her name) asked me to identify a tree which was next to the car park behind the Lime Tree. At the time I hadn’t a clue but I’m now sure that it is a variety of “Flowering Ash”, properly called Manna Ash. “
Tree Identification Walk
Local enthusiastic amateur, John Denton, will lead us on a walk through the park – introducing you to local flora and fauna, you’ll learn more than you ever dreamt of about the trees in the park, how they’ve survived and thrived, how old they are and much more!
Sunday 28 April at 2pm
Meeting point : Notice Board by the car park. Binoculars and magnifying glass would be handy. Sturdy footwear would be an advantage.
No dogs please.
Rain or shine, we’ll still go ahead
Read and download John’s Trees Key and Tree Classification in advance of the walk!
2019 Summer Festival Date Revealed!
The date of this year’s festival is …………..
Sunday 21 July 12-4pm
We’re busy putting together an amazing line-up as well as activities for dog-lovers and of course the children!
Results of the Park Survey announced
As you will remember we circulated a survey in October after the AGM to find out what you wanted us to spend the fundraising proceeds on in the coming months.
We received 80 responses.
The Picnic Table idea came out on top by quite a margin at 42% followed by the gym at 27%.
The ‘other’ category was for people to add their ideas. The most popular once these were added up was ‘additional park benches’ 3 (4%).
We will update you with progress on securing the picnic tables when we can.
Quiz On The Hill #2 A Success!
Our Second Quiz on the Hill held at Shrewsbury House last night (9/11/18) was even better than the first held in February.
Quizmasters Geoff and Dee set the bar very high and caught us out with some fiendishly clever questions. From ‘cats and other animals’ to ‘news this week’ they kept us on our toes.
The winners after eight rounds were Team MSP who received some mini bottles of red, and looked delighted!
The scoreboard at the end of the evening looked a bit like this:
We look forward to the next quiz, so watch out MSP, we’re after your crown!
We’ll let you know how much we raised through the tickets and raffle when we have added it all up.