Welcome to the Friends of Dyke Road Park Blog. If you’d like to join us in improving and enjoying the park please do, all welcome!
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Our regular meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month in the cafe in the park at 6.30pm.
Do you like the idea of brightening up your food and drink with edible flowers? Then come along to our next community garden event on Saturday May 18th 12-2pm and help plant some edible flower seeds. We will also be re-painting the blackboard signs, fixing up the willow edging and brewing up some herbal teas.
We normally stop for some lunch together so you might like to bring a picnic or some food to share.
At the time of writing there are three very different proposals in for the Bowling Green site. It is as yet unclear how a decision will be made as to which one to go with, but it is important that people air their views before it is too late.
The three proposals are:
1. An area with disabled access to provide opportunities for food-growing, a sensory garden with seating area and small-scale sporting activities (boule and table tennis a possibility). Bowling Green Community Garden
2. Mini-tennis courts (hard courts) for children.
3. A dedicated open-air theatre (with raked, sunken seating) – a proposal just in from Brighton Open Air Theatre. There would be evening performances Wed to Sat throughout the summer. BOAT – initial proposal
The Friends of Dyke Road Park would like to hear what people think about these three options. Please try and get to our next meeting at 6.30pm, Tuesday 14 May, Bowls Hut, to air your views, or leave a comment below.
If you would like to sign the petition opposing the plan to build the King’s Free School on BHASVIC field, click here:
Or, if that doesn’t work, Google change.org bhasvic and you’ll go straight to it.
Everybody seems to have been taken completely by surprise by the news that the Education Funding Agency is supporting plans by the King’s Free School (a C of E school secondary school) to build on BHASVIC field. EFA Statement re Kings School Site1_000
Clearly this will have quite an impact on the area, especially on those living to the south of Old Shoreham Road, and many people have been actively involved in the Friends of the Field campaign to keep the field open to the public: https://www.facebook.com/friendsoffield?filter=2.
But what is the likely impact on Dyke Road Park itself? Our small green space will be completely surrounded by buildings/roads, and even more heavily used. At the same time it will have an increasingly vital role to play in terms of providing habitat for wildlife, and a space in which we can enjoy being out in the fresh air.
Feel free to comment on this issue below:
This document, passed on by Chris Thomson, Principal of BHASVIC, gives an indication of the area proposed for the new school grounds, which is that marked (5) on this pdf. Cardinal Newman-BHASVIC-Site Area Estimates-April 2013
And here you can read an article in the Independent making clear the opposition of the heads of BHASVIC and Cardinal Newman, as well as of local residents, to the proposal: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/hove-vs-gove-education-secretary-michael-gove-accused-of-ignoring-local-wishes-with-plans-to-build-new-free-school-on-playing-fields-8605135.html?origin=internalSearch
At the meeting on 16 April many ideas were put forward for the ex-bowling green, and it became evident that there was scope in the 1,500 square-metre area to accommodate most of them.
The general feeling was that we should create a resource for people who do not normally get a chance to garden or otherwise enjoy outdoor spaces. That it should include food growing, wildlife friendly planting, scented plants, meditation, a seating area, and some recreational activities. So it could be both a hive of activity and a haven of peace.
A working group is being established to draw up a proposal that will incorporate these ideas, to put to the Council. If anyone would like to be involved in the working group, please email Jannet King at jannetking “at sign” sfep.net
A male pied flycatcher, a summer migrant from West Africa, who has found the Community Garden to be a very welcoming environment, and has given much pleasure to local birders. Photographed by Sandra Palme.
Community Garden Monthly Munch
April’s Monthly Munch at the Community Garden is fast approaching – Saturday April 20th from 12pm to 2pm. We are optimistic that we will have better weather than we did last month for the Big Dig. Not that that would be hard of course!
Our theme for this month is ‘Leap into Spring’. We will be turning compost, seed sowing and having a general tidy up. Hot drinks will be brewed on site and we will have a shared picnic at the end so there will be plenty of opportunity to socialise as well as get your hands mucky.
Anyone and everyone is welcome. So hope to see you there. If you have any spare cardboard at home please bring it along as our compost bins could really do with some.
The Dyke Road Bowling Club has closed, raising the question of what to do with the bowling green area – a sunny and sheltered site, currently bounded by a fence, overlooked by a small ‘pavilion’.
Various suggestions have been floated – a community vegetable garden, an orchard, a sensory garden for people with visual impairment – but it would be good to hear people’s opinions and suggestions.
So, please do come along to the next Friends meeting at 6.30 on Tuesday 16 April, starting at the Café in the Park, but (weather permitting) including a ‘site visit’ to the bowling green.
Jannet
OOOOOOOH NOOOOOOO!
The rain has thwarted some of our plans… Our Monthly Munch event today from 12-4 was due to take place in the community garden at Dyke Rd Park and was also coinciding with The Big Dig week this year, supported locally by Harvest / The Brighton & Hove Food Partnership. Due to the prevailing weather, we’ve decided to move indoors for our event.
BUT… We’re not quite done for! We’ve moved our event to St Luke’s Church, Old Shoreham Rd (at the top of the hill which heads down to Preston Circus)
Although we won’t be able to turn the compost bins and work on the plot, we will have:
Community compost sign up
Seed sowing
Cake sale
Tea and coffee
Jumble sale
…and more!
We know its grim out there but do come and join us for a chat and a cuppa and find out what’s going on in the Community Garden this year
