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Two people meet in Sydney Gardens for a socially distanced chat in June 2020.
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Dear Friends,
We very much hope this e-news update finds you well and safe. This is our first e-news since March, when the Coronavirus pandemic arrived and we put our programme on pause. This has been a dynamic, fast changing and difficult time for so many people. We hope the park has given some much needed green space for respite and fresh air to many of the neighbouring residents and communities.
The Sydney Gardens Project Team are mostly working from home, and have continued to work on the project through the lockdown. With all on site activities still on pause, we have been providing activity packs for families working with our partner organisations - the Holburne, Bathscape and Julian House, and working remotely with volunteers. More recently, Mali and Matt have begun gardening in the park.
Read on for our updates and photos ...
We hope you keep safe and well,
Best wishes,
Sue Palmer, Community Ranger
Mali Kedward, Horticultural Participation Officer
Gemma Burgham, Communications & Participation Intern
Matt Watson, Horticultural Apprentice
Keith Rowe, Project Manager
Sydney Gardens Project Team, Parks Service, B&NES Council
Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Follow us on Facebook @SydneyGardensBath
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Covid-19 and Sydney Gardens
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Please follow the most recent government guidance in relation to using the park and public green space. For updates from Bath & North East Somerset Council please go to: https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/coronavirus
All our on site activities and events continue to be postponed due to government guidance around social distancing. We will restart our programme when it is safe to do so. We are also thinking through how some of our activities can take place online, where this is possible and positive.
Keep in touch with developments through this e-news, or through our posters in the park.
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Tell us how you have used Sydney Gardens and other green space through the pandemic?
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Parks and green spaces have proved essential for people during the pandemic for many reasons including a place to exercise, for fresh air and space, and to be in nature.
Please complete our city wide survey about the usage and value of parks. It only takes a few minutes. Thank you!
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Sydney Gardens Project - Build & Restoration Update
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The original planning application for the restoration of Sydney Gardens was submitted on the 15th August 2018.
We gained planning approval and listed building consent in October 2018, and following further detailed design development, the Sydney Gardens Project Additions gained approval in April 2020.
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Here is a link to the illustrative masterplan for Sydney Gardens as agreed by B&NES Planning and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is subject to change as we implement the scheme.
If you would like to view our planning application and the associated documents, please go to the B&NES Plannning Portal and search using the application number 19/05443/REG03.
We tendered the construction works in March and we are currently talking to our preferred contractors for both the main works and conservation contracts. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected our scheduled programme, moving it forward a few months. We are planning on awarding the contracts in June 2020 with work beginning on site in late summer.
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Our activities - interpretation and trails
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With on site activities and events on hold, we have been focusing on developing our interpretation and learning resources for print and download.
Three volunteers - Diana White, Alison Dods and Gill Gazzard - are working with us to create 3 different trails for the park.
- Trees
- Heritage and history of Sydney Gardens
- Jane Austen's life in relation to the 18th C Pleasure Gardens
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Artist and educator Lucia Harley is also working with us developing learning resources that we tested out last year for self-led visits to the park for families, schools and home educators.
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Volunteer with us on research
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If you are interested in volunteering with us in researching different historical elements of Sydney Gardens remotely, then do get in touch - we'd be happy to hear from you.
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Due to the pandemic, our gardening sessions and horticultural training programme were postponed.
Both the weekly Wednesday sessions as well as the Friends Volunteering Gardening are currently postponed but we are really looking forward to getting these back and running as soon as it’s safe to do so. Watch this space!
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Have you spotted Mali (the Horticultural Participation Officer) and Matt (Apprentice Gardener) in the gardens recently? They have been catching up with gardening jobs, litter picking and general upkeep of the park.
We've sown a poppy seed mix under the Peace Oak, which was a bit late in the season (due to us not coming into the park), but they're just breaking through and we're hoping the rain will get them going.
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The wildflower borders at the Bathwick entrance have grown all by themselves this year, and all we've done is a bit of weeding - there have been so many bees, butterflies and pollinators.
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And the treasure of May was a Pyramid Orchid that we found in some uncut grass in Sydney Gardens - the benefits of leaving some grass areas to grow without mowing means you get gems like these!
If you want to contact Mali about future gardening and horticultural training opportunities, please email Mali or call on 07779 968 035.
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Citizen Science Pollinator Survey - can you help?
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The Pollinator Monitoring and Research Partnership (PMRP) aims to establish how insect pollinator populations are changing across Great Britain.
They have established two new large-scale surveys under the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme banner (PoMS) – go to their website to find out how you can take part and help track changes in pollinator numbers.
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The Friends of Sydney Gardens
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The Friends of Sydney Gardens is a community organisation formed in 2013 to promote awareness of the gardens, gather community feedback on improvements and developments and to foster the gardens' care and maintenance.
The Friends are currently researching and planning a Tree Trail around Sydney Gardens that celebrates the park's historic and Champion Trees, with a tree labelling project too. If you are interested in helping with this, please contact FoSG secretary Gill Gazzard.
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The Friends are always looking for more park users to help with weekend litter picks, so if you want to help your local green space, when we're able to volunteer again safely in the park, then contact Gill Gazzard at the Friends. Volunteers Ben and Olli who helped back in February, created special anti-litter posters, and they've just been put up in the park.
Please join the Friends to support Sydney Gardens now and in the future.
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Sydney Gardens National Lottery Heritage Funded Project
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Alongside the works, a programme of events and activities is being run: learning, arts, nature, horticulture, wildlife, play, sport, archaeology and history. The project will celebrate the fascinating history of the Gardens, with its Cosmorama, Labyrinth, Merlins Swing, Concerts, Public Breakfasts, Galas and Illuminations.
What's happening:
Our project started the 'Delivery Phase' on 1st February 2019:
2019: Detailed technical design, programming of works, with public events, activities, training and volunteering.
2020: Delivery of restoration, building works and landscaping, volunteering and training programme, and designing interpretation
2021: Continued delivery of the restoration and build with accompanying volunteer and training programme, activities and partnership events
2022: Completion of the project
Read about our National Lottery Heritage Funding
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