Film Festival Films, showcasing the work of London's amazing parks friends groups, are now available online on CPRE London's Youtube channel.

Nigel and the Green Patch

Irene's Story - My Treasured Space

Meet a community enabler: Katie's story

Winsford Gardens v2

Penge Green Gym November 2018 Newsletter

Penge Green Gym Newsletter 4th Green Flag award and much more at Winsford Gardens For the fourth year running Penge Green Gym are a Green Flag Award Community winner.  They have recognised the continuing work that all the volunteers do in the park.  We have scored highly with the Green Flag 'secret shopper' who inspected the park anonymously and found it welcoming and well kept, speaking to locals who use the park every day.  And the awards continue with a commendation from Bromley In Bloom.  The category is for the Best Community Environmentally Friendly Project. QAVS We are also very excited to announce that Penge Green Gym have been nominated for a Queens Award for Voluntary Service.  This is a very prestigious award and is normally awarded to much larger groups.  The process involves sending a detailed report of the work done by PGG and an assessment by and member of the committee.  We await with baited breath the results which will be announced in May 2019.  Thanks to Peter Hutchings at TCV for putting us forward for this award, it is very exciting! Work at Winsford Gardens Back down to earth and summer has turned slowly to a fairly warm and dry autumn and then into a more mixed winter season.  Ongoing work includes coppicing the hazel bushes at the Garden Road entrance.  We had hoped to use a lot of this to replace the hazel fencing around the gravel garden and wildflower but as the hazel has not been coppiced for some years there are not many straight whips.  But we have been liaising with South Norwood country park who will be coppicing their willow and hazel very soon and are happy for us to use what they cut. We have also installed a new bench in the children's play area.  We had applied for funding from the Skipton Community fund which paid for most of the bench with a little more used from the Waitrose fund.  Thank you to both. Work continues in the gravel garden, and it is slowly maturing.  It is interesting to see which plants thrive and which plants are not so happy in this spot.   The only problem is keeping the larger stones that define the path in place!  They seem to walk around the park every week!   Projects for Winter 2018/19 Winter means lots of leaf raking and collecting to make lovely leaf mulch for next year.  We are also continuing to maintain our natural seating benches as some have started to decay.  We have also been given lots of bulbs by Penny Read at Idverde which will make a colourful splash next spring.  Thanks Penny!

The Benefits of Street Trees

Having a tree outside your house can be annoying; blocking the light through your windows, roots which damage pavements and garden walls, and there are those leaves to clear every autumn. Nonetheless, there are huge benefits to having street trees that you may not be aware of. Trees improve air quality by trapping pollen and dust, and by absorbing pollutants. A single large tree can supply the Oxygen used by four people. They retain water that would normally run off the soil, reducing water use, and help prevent flooding and soil erosion. Deciduous trees shade the summer sun and create more amenable microclimates around them, reducing air conditioning costs in buildings.

Mature urban trees make neighbourhoods more pleasant by screening unattractive views and softening the most brutalist architecture. Trees absorb and block noise; in the right position reducing noise by 40%. Shoppers linger for longer and spend more where trees are present. Trees have even been shown to reduce reported crimes, car speeds, and cars parking on pavements. It is no surprise then, that having trees on your street can increase your house price by 15% or more and make it quicker to resell.

People living in urban areas now outstrip those in rural, and urban areas are the fastest growing form of land cover. Trees are also important urban wildlife refuges. A mature tree is an ecosystem providing habitats and food for a wide variety of birds, insects and other animals. In the urban environment they increase biodiversity where it is most needed.

Together with Parks, our mature street trees are a great legacy of Victorian Britain, and need to be defended from development and neglect. We are fortunate in South London that our local authorities see the benefits of mature urban street trees and wish to protect and encourage them. A recent report showed that Newcastle, Edinburgh and Sheffield cities fell the most trees. In these times of austerity, mature trees are replaced, favouring varieties that will not grow as tall, or damage pavements. However, small fast growing trees have shorter lifespans, and many saplings will not survive the urban environment, and may need to be replaced again.

Surely, we should protect those trees that have already proved themselves to be suitable? Pollarding and engineering solutions to kerbs are far better alternatives to felling.

Why not become a LB Bromley Tree Friend or volunteer with Trees for Cities?