Britain in Bloom South West
St Andrews Park, Bristol. 2015
Author: John Mayne Chair, Friends of St Andrews Park.
St Andrew's Park is a traditional Victorian park located in St Andrew's, a residential housing area approximately 2 miles north of the centre of Bristol [photo 1].
The land, nearly 11 acres (5 hectares), was bought in 1890 and was laid out as a Victorian park; it opened in 1895. It came about largely in response to growing pressure from local people which forced the Council to purchase an area of land in 1890 for the purpose of creating 'a People’s Park for Bristol North'. The land had once been used as a quarry and the uneven land had to be levelled out largely by using rubbish and spoil from nearby building sites.
This document takes the Britain in Bloom Parks and Open Spaces Assessment criteria and gives evidence of how those criteria are met by St Andrews Park.
1. Community
The Friends of St Andrews Park’s was established inin its current form in 2007.
The Constitution defines our structure and procedures.
It allows for a number of groups with elected convenors: these groups organise events and activities. Currently we have groups dealing with Anti-social Behaviour, Graffiti, Heritage and Restoration, Litter and Recycling, Play areas, Social and Arts activities, Wild life and Environmental conservation. All groups report to the Committee and Minutes of the meetings are published on the website.
Our events have included Concerts, Ceilidhs, Theatre in the Park, Art in the Park exhibitions [photo 2], wildlife activities, planting volunteer parties and participation in the local Neighbourhood Festival. We have raised over £34,000 for works and activities in the park. This made the site attractive for further investment such as Bristol City Council, the landowner, investing resources to bring the site to a Green Flag standard and providing a Park Keeper.
The Friends hold 8 meetings a year, locally advertised and open to all, to discuss plans for the future and review what has been done. They work very closely with the landowners, Bristol City Council. In 2011 the Friends' worked with Bristol City Council (BCC) to create a 10-year management plan for the site.
A free quarterly newsletter is published and distributed via the free magazine Bishopston Matters. Friends of St Andrews Park maintain an informative and regularly updated website,
Sources of all our funding, which is mainly from grants raised for individual projects from Neighbourhood Partnership, Heritage Lottery Fund and also from local businesses and individual donations, are in the Treasurer’s Reports.
A photographic record of our volunteer activities is posted on
A major project in 2010 was the renovation of the children’s playground where Friends worked with BCC over a long period. The final plans took into account, as far as it practicable, the feedback received from the consultations and questionnaires. The budget for the work was over £120k, funded by BCC through the Big Lottery Fund as part of the Pathfinder Projects [photo 3]. The popular paddling pool, described by BCC as’ a wonderful asset’ is why the Friends and the Council have made it a priority to keep it open.
Signing and Information Project.In 2010 six permanent display boards were installed in the park[photo 4]. The funding also provided a finger display post and a Community Noticeboard in the centre. The funding was from Bristol city Council, (£5k), Neighbourhood Partnership (£5k), Heritage Lottery (£15,500)’ total £25,500. There are welcome boards at each entrance.
The War memorial is in memory of fatal aeroplane accident in WW2 [photo 5]. The Heritage and Restoration group raised funds through public donation, contributions from city council and the John James Trust. £3,800 was raised, of which £1,800 was spent on the Memorial, £1,100 on landscaping and opening ceremony, the remainder available for maintenance.
A grant from the Police Commissioner is funding several annual flower beds within the large grassland areas [photo 6]. These spectacular displays are eagerly awaited each year; they are designed to break up the grassed area so that large groups of people enjoying the park do not overwhelm other park users.
A current project is the renewal of the Wildflower Meadow near the pond. Supported by a grant from the Neighbourhood Partnership, the area was prepared by BCC contractors and seeded with native wildflowers by members of the wildlife group. The hedge beside the meadow has been laid in traditional manner. As well as enhancing the park, these projects support the Urban Pollinators Project, part of Greater Bristol Pollinator Network. The improved access to the pond in the park was completed this year [photo 7]. This was paid for from with a grant from Development Obligation (S106) money.
Our free events are made as varied as possible to appeal to many tastes while always carrying the message of the importance of the site and the need to care for it. These range from monthly Bird Walks, open air picnics with musicians providing music and Halloween organised by the Park Café [photo 8]. Details of future and records of past events are on the website.
The Park was awarded the Green Flag in 2011 and this was renewed annually until BCC made a policy decision not to support their parks applications for renewals for 2014, having insufficient staff resource to support the process.
2. Maintenance and Development
Most of the work in St Andrews park follows the 10-year management plan 2011 -2021 developed for the site by Bristol City Council in partnership with Friends of St Andrews Park. There has been additional work, for example the installation of safety fences near the lower entrance and the refurbishment of the park’s public toilets inside and outside[photo 9].
In 2011 a full survey of the trees in the park was undertaken by BCC. Some trees were felled and FoSAP worked with the parks department to choose both sites and species for the 11 replacements which included the Bristol speciality, Sorbus bristoliensis, the Bristol Whitebeam. Most of the new trees were sponsored by local people under the Tree Bristol Sponsorship scheme [photo 10].
Funds for maintenance of the projects already completed have been set aside. The Park pond renovation and continued maintenance is funded from the renovation budget (12k) raised by a previous Park group.
3. Environment
Litter and dog waste bins on the site are emptied regularly by the Park Keeper. Much litter is picked up by visitors to the park, particularly dog walkers. Some litter picking is done by the Park Keeper, some by the volunteers. Dog waste is an issue on the site; most dog walkers pick up after them, but some people bring their dogs to run in the park after dark which is a problem.
There are sets of re-cycling bins in the park which are emptied by BCC contractors. The Friends can leave cuttings from volunteer work parties at pre-arranged locations for disposal.
Graffiti is addressed promptly and is therefore uncommon. Police are advised.Graffiti removal spray is used to treat minor incidents; where it is more complex we use Bristol City Council's online graffiti reporting system.
There are Park benches alongside the paths through the Park which are well used all year round. On fine days in the summer there can be 1000 people enjoying the park, so then most of them sit on the grass [photo 11]. Extra, large waste bins are put out at these times and the Park Keeper empties them very early in the morning. BBQ’s are commonly used and the local supermarket, the Co-Op, is co-operating by selling the disposable bbqs with legs to protect the grass from damage.
26.5.15.
Appendix. There are three pages of photo records to support the submission.
Britain in Bloom South West. Parks and Open spaces.
St Andrews Park Bristol BS6 2015.
1.
2. Children’s Art in the Park
3. Playground Construction
4. One of the 6 noticeboards
5. WW2 memorial
6. Annual flower beds
7. Pond dipping
8. The Café in summer …..
.... organises Halloween in autumn.
9. The refurbished toilets
10 Tree Bristol
11. St Andrews is a popular park!