November - BOSF Coffee Morning on Tuesday 8th November at 11am Hosted by the Friends of Ley Hill Park at Holloway Hall
December - BOSF Christmas Lecture at The Exchange, Centenary Square In partnership with the University of Birmingham Wednesday 7th December, evening
We look forward to seeing you soon!
BOSF Team
BOSF Membership Survey
To BOSF Members
It was great to see so many of you at the Conference recently. For those who were there, you will have heard Chris speaking about our new Membership Survey.
We are doing this survey to make sure that we understand who our members are and what they do. By completing this short questionnaire, you will be helping to shape the future of Birmingham Open Spaces Forum.
It should not take too long to do and we really appreciate your time and feedback.
Please can you send in your responses by 20th December, at the latest.
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Mary at mary@bosf.org.uk.
Thank you in advance of your support.
BOSF Team
BOSF Seed Corn Fund
To all BOSF Member Groups.
We hope you all know about our Seed Corn Fund and we would like to remind you that the free help and support is still there for you to use!
Just to remind you, a seed corn fund is when a little bit of money is invested to generate more money.
BOSF, with generous support from Birmingham City Council, want to help out Friends Groups by investing a little bit of money to generate more money for our parks and open spaces volunteers.
We can therefore offer you FREE help to work with Get Grants to help bring in the funding you need.
Last year, with the help of Get Grants, we turned £10K in to over £100K.
This year we have already helped groups to bring in the total of £39,797, which has gone towards:
new picnic benches
playground equipment
new tools
and a variety of park activities!
Friends of Edgbaston Reservoir were one of the successful groups this year:
“We have been successful with two bids so far. Last year we had to move our operation from City Hospital greenhouses to James Turner Street. The £10k we got through the Seed Corn Fund enabled us to establish ourselves within a few weeks and just in time for the new growing season, to the amazement and delight of our school and community hub partners.
Because we have now embedded ourselves well and truly within the Winson Green community, we have also bid successfully for several thousand pounds to employ a part-time outreach worker to run our site and liaise with other community groups in the area.”
So, if you are a BOSF Member and your group needs to bring in funding, we can help out.
It is very easy, so start by clicking here and give us some information about your group and what you need funding for
Then Katie at Get Grants will be in touch to give you all the assist you need!
I you have any questions or need help, then please let us know by contacting Sarah at info@bosf.org.uk
BOSF Team
Parks Survey 2022
Birmingham City Council Parks is carrying out their Parks Survey again this year.
Please click here to give your feedback about our parks and green spaces in Birmingham.
The survey closes on 30th November.
Thank you.
Consultation on the Birmingham Local Plan
Birmingham City Council is to begin a six-week public consultation on the Birmingham Local Plan Issues and Options Document from Monday 24th October 2022. The Birmingham Local Plan will be the statutory planning framework for the whole city and will guide planning decisions on all development and regeneration activity up to 2042. Once adopted it will replace the Birmingham Development Plan (2017) setting out how housing, employment provision and infrastructure will be developed and the type of places and environments that will be created.
The Issues and Options document is the first stage in the process of developing the Birmingham Local Plan with consultation taking place on the issues facing the growth and development of Birmingham over the coming years and the planning options to deal with those issues.
The Council is therefore inviting you to share your views and comments as part of a formal public consultation. Your comments will be carefully considered and used, along with evidence, to inform the next stage of the Local Plan. The consultation will close on Monday 5th December 2022.
To find out more, please visit the Birmingham City Council Website by clicking here.
Comments need to be submitted through the consultation portal: https://consult.birmingham.gov.uk/kse but if you have any queries, please contact us via:
If you love trees, work with trees and need an online qualification, then the Birmingham Tree People are advertising an SEG Level 2 Certificate in Arboriculture.
The course starts April 2023 and the deadline for applications is 28th February 2023.
Free Course - How to Teach Gardening to School Pupils
Roots to Fruit had the privilege of designing and creating a legacy garden to commemorate the 2022 Commonwealth games in the St Thomas Church Peace Garden in Birmingham City Center. The garden was created with the kind help of local volunteers and students. Roots to Fruit will be maintaining these new garden areas until January 2024 and is facilitating training courses and activity events through this service.
They want local schools to benefit from the use of these gardens by allowing any volunteers, teachers and learning support staff to gain the knowledge, experience and credentials to teach gardening to children. They are therefore running a FREE course that gives adults the practical hands on training to do this.
If you as an individual or if you know somebody that is interested in teaching gardening in schools click here for more info.
Cost
Free
When
Bi Weekly
Wednesday mornings 9:30am till 11: 30am
Venue
St Thomas Church Peace Garden Birmingham City Center
214 Granville St, Birmingham B11RY
Roots to Fruit Midlands Ltd. HQ at Oakdene Nurseries, 51 Chester Road Streetly Sutton Coldfield, B742HH
Qualification and Units
Level 1 Award in Practical Horticulture Skills through the Skills and Education Group Awards
Prepare ground for sowing or planting under supervision [J/504/0003]
Maintain the safety of self and others in the workplace [R/600/0291]
Care for a planted area [R/504/0148]
Sow seed indoors in containers [A/504/0158]
Pot up rooted cuttings, large seedlings or plugs by hand [A/504/0161]
Criteria
Attendees need to be over the age of 18 years old
Hold a valid DBS check
Be able to access online resources
Fill in 2 online documents
Create an electronic photo portfolio of practical skills
They do not need to already be teaching in schools to access this course
Learning
Practical skills assessments and 2 small online assignments
Fill in 2 online documents
Create an electronic photo portfolio of practical skills
Quality Greenspace Solution to Loneliness
Loneliness increases our risks of depression, diabetes, dementia, self-harm and suicide. The impacts can be dire. But how can greenspace reduce loneliness?
That’s the focus of a review of studies from around the world. Two-thirds of the studies found greenspace potentially protected people against loneliness. The review identified multiple pathways for reducing loneliness including building connections with community, restoring our sense of belonging and connection with nature and reducing harms, such as violence, that may otherwise lead to loneliness. They also discovered that the quality of greenspace matters when achieving these outcomes.
Rewilding cities could reduce impacts of extreme weather!
A new report published by international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) says large-scale nature recovery in urban areas could protect humanity against the worsening impacts of climate change, such as flooding and heatwaves, while helping to restore biodiversity.
Spaces like private gardens, green spaces owned by councils, businesses and religious groups and public spaces such as parks, urban waterways, estuaries and wetlands, as well as less obvious areas such as railways, are key locations where rewilding could be implemented at a scale big enough to make a difference.
"We will put natural capital at the heart of government accounting. We will work with the Office for National Statistics to fully include natural capital in the UK Environmental Accounts, with early changes by 2013. In 2012 we will publish a roadmap for further improvements up to 2020."
In 2012, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Defra began collaborating on the development of natural capital accounts for the nation. The project to develop the natural capital accounts is now 10 years old and a great deal has been achieved.
Click here to read more about their priorities and plans for the next phase.
