Love Parks Week is an annual campaign run by Keep Britian Tidy, which celebrates parks, green spaces and the dedicated volunteers and workers that look after them all year round.
Held in the civic Council Chamber, the event was opened with a speech from the Mayor of Walsall and was also attended by Councillors Gary Flint, Garry Perry and Kerry Murphy.
The council’s Healthy Spaces team look after Walsall’s diverse array of parks and green spaces across the borough and rely heavily on a team of dedicated council volunteers, who perform a variety of different roles throughout the year.
Together, the Healthy Spaces volunteers help to ensure that local parks and green spaces are safe, clean and welcoming spaces for all to use and enjoy.
As part of the ceremony, several nominated individuals from the following groups received awards for their outstanding volunteering contributions to Walsall’s parks and green spaces:
Walsall Conversation Volunteers
Conservation volunteers contribute towards upkeep and maintenance of parks and green spaces to ensure they are neat, safe and accessible for all.
Walsall ‘Walk On’ Leaders
Weekly accessible community walks are led by walk leaders in parks and green spaces across the borough.
Friends of Parks groups
These groups help to organise regular activities and events for community members, whilst also carrying out regular maintenance, upkeep and improvement works.
Walsall Community Litter Watch
Volunteers collect litter from local parks, green spaces and streets. 20,905 bags of rubbish have been collected by community litter pickers in the last 12 months.
Walsall Allotment Members
Volunteer committees manage 27 allotment sites across the borough. They also act as an intermediary between the council and allotment plot holders.
The winners of the volunteer awards were: Sue Cousins, Kerry Wilkinson, Luke Webster, Jack Plaza, Guy Fearenside, Yvette Rowley, Roy Collingwood, Julie Baker, Chris Jackson, Stephen Wood, Birchills agenda 21, Joy Wood, Paulette Williams-Jones, Stella Pettifer, Maz Noakes, Raj Khan, Elena Walton, Wendy Walker, Martyn Lever, Teresa Webb, Malcolm Ratledge, Lisa Griffiths, David Blackwell and John Madge.
