Friends of Sara Park
The Friends of Sara Park is a local community group interested in looking after and preserving Sara Park, for the use and enjoyment of the whole community. The group is dedicated to the improvement of the park, as it is a valuable resource to be enjoyed by the local community for leisure, social interaction and recreation. Sara Park is a well used community park, with a thoroughfare access to local housing. It provides a valued open space to a large multicultural community, for both young & old.
Sara Park is located in the south of Nechells Ward in Small Heath, close to the Birmingham City Football ground. The Sara Park Play Centre is located in the park, which is open daily for the local children to use, after school hours.
The group has been very successful to date in carrying out community events, activities, consultations and bringing in funding for improvements, with the help of CSV Environment and the Nechells Park Strategy.
Activities
Numerous activities have been organised by the group, in partnership with local schools, residents, organisations and Birmingham City Council. These include:
- Cutting back of the undergrowth around trees in the park to open up the site and reduce concealed areas.
- Trees pruned away from lamp columns to increase the light within the park.
- Bulb planting activities with the community and local schools, over the last few years, to increase the colour and bring in more flowers to the park.
- Tree planting activities
Undergrowth clearance to tidy up the front of the park
- Funs days & entertainment in the park
- Installation of a new walk 2000 route
Consultation & Park Improvements
The Friends of Sara Park ran a full community consultation exercise, to find out what the local community thought about their park and suggestions to improve it. This proved to be a great success and a full landscape improvement plan was drawn up, containing the most popular community ideas and suggestions. Using this information the group has been successful in bringing in around £162K from a variety of funding sources, including the Nechells Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, SITA Trust and ERDF via Groundwork.
The improvement work carried out so far includes the reduction of mounds and concealed areas to improve security, the installation of new lights and a CCTV system, footpath improvements, the installation of new play equipment, benches and bins and work with the local children to design new entrance features for the park.
The group is now looking for funding to install the entrance features and a new seating area for the older residents. They will then be working with the local teenagers to design a small youth area, located by the MUGA.
Working with Schools
Educational workshops and after school clubs have been run in the park, with CSV Environment, to raise the profile of the park with the local children and teach them the importance of their local green spaces. Teachers from the local primary school are members of the group and the children therefore join in with all the planting and design activities that the group organizes. The group is also working with the children from the Sara Park Play Centre and the teenagers from the Link Centre, who supply educational needs to disaffected teenagers, who have been expelled from school.
The Tornado
Last year, Sara Park suffered badly when the tornado passed right over it. Many of the trees were ripped up, but luckily no one was injured or any of the equipment damaged. The District Park Manager Sue Amey worked very hard to help clean up, repair and restore the park with Service Team, who did a very good job replacing the damaged trees.
The Friends of Sara Park have been very successful in raising the profile of the park, involving local residents and schools in activities and decision making and improving the local area, for the benefit of the local community.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about the group or attending their meetings then please contact Sarah Royal at CSV Environment on 0121 322 2058.