Equality and Diversity in Parks 2019/20 Everyone should have access to good green spaces irrespective of age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief. The work of the Birmingham Parks Service seeks to promote social inclusion, health and community safety. The Parks Service aims to support community involvement through volunteering work, providing local and national events in parks and asking for local opinions through satisfaction surveys, Friends and partners meetings, conferences and local feedback on projects. Here are some examples of the community work and projects that Parks are involved with to promote equality and diversity in Parks: Volunteering with the City Farm at Sheldon Country Park The Ranger Service continues to place disability volunteers with the farm to assist with gardening projects, maintaining the kitchen gardens and animal care. Green spaces, with onsite staff teams, can be particularly useful environments for a person with social care needs to learn and develop. In 2019/20 the farm offered on average a total of at least 42 volunteer work days each week, with at least 14 of those days being specifically with volunteers who have a physical or learning disability. The farm also continues to create opportunities for specialist schools and colleges to place students on work experience. In 2019/20 the farm staff worked with at least 20 students from Rodbaston college and Solihull College, providing work experience placements and access to formal NVQ level 2& 3 courses in animal management. The Old Rectory Farm also engages with outside organisations, such as Bacons End Care Home, to provide students with severe lifelong disabilities the chance to learn about farm animals and horticulture providing the opportunity for these students to offer meaningful help in return. For more information please visit: https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/sheldonpark Horse-riding for the disabled, young and volunteers at Hole Farm Pony Trekking Centre at Woodgate Valley Country Park. Hole Farm Trekking Centre forms part of Woodgate Valley Country Park. The Centre provides local communities and beyond an opportunity to ride ponies within Birmingham. Their reasonable fees enable children and adults, from all social backgrounds, the chance to experience handling, caring for and riding ponies. The Centre Manager specialises in working with disabled and disadvantaged young people and proactively engages with local schools and organisations to enable hard to reach groups to try riding. In 2019/20 the riding school had 9,184 visitors and worked with 1,183 individual disabled riders. The back bones of this trekking centre are the volunteers who give up their spare time to help both with the ponies and riders. The Centre Manager has also successfully encouraged some of these volunteers to go on to pursue a career with horses by studying for their British Horse Society exams. In 2019/20 the trekking centre trained 1 apprenticeship to achieve a NVQ (Level 2) in Horse Care, Management and Flat Riding. The trekking centre opened a new ménage in July 2014 and therefore riding can now be offered all year round. For more information about the Trekking Centre please visit: https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/ponytrekking Birmingham’s Ranger Service working with children across the city: From ….Baskerville School: In 2019, Baskerville School (a Special Education School) replanted the raised beds outside the Visitor Centre as a wildflower meadow and a woodland floor. The project was led by the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust’s “Natural Networks” trainee. Following on from this project, one of the students enjoyed the experience and consequently now regularly volunteers as a Wildlife Hero volunteer. For more information on becoming a Wildlife Hero visit : https://www.bbcwildlife.org.uk/about To….Smith’s Wood Academy: The Ranger Service have been offering volunteering opportunities for a group of children from Smith’s Wood Academy on a Character Development Programme. The wildlife and conservation work is set outdoors and develops skills such as teamwork and using hand tools. And the “Be U” project…. The Be U programme is being run in a number of schools throughout Birmingham, Worcester and the Black Country for children to encourage confidence and includes the Ranger Service offering opportunities to volunteer at the Lickey Hills on habitat projects. Local and diverse community events in parks Parks can be used by local communities for small and large events and 2019/20 saw over 160 community events approved to go ahead in Birmingham Parks. Bookings can be made on-line at: https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20089/parks/165/holding_events_in_parks_and _open_spaces Park sites have also hosted a variety of large events including CoCoMad at Cotteridge Park, Vaisakhi at Handsworth Park and Eid Mela celebrations in Cannon Hill Park and Small Heath Park. Parks have also been used for smaller events by the local community and the following are some examples that took place in 2019/20: • Sponsored fun runs by Cancer Research Ltd, Prostrate Cancer UK, Headway Birmingham, St Mary’s Hospice and Muslim Hands, • A cultural festival by the International Mother Language Monument Project, • Sponsored walks by Sense, the Alzheimer’s Society, Age Concern Birmingham, Roy Castle Lung Cancer and Birmingham South Memory Walk • Sporting events by the Bangladesh Sports Association UK & the West Midlands Schools Athletic Association • A cycling event by St Basils • A vehicle rally by the Pride of Longbridge • Fun days carried out by Churches Together Small Heath & Kings Heath Action for Refugees • Car boot sales run by the 10th Sutton Coldfield Sea Scout Group and the Sutton Coldfield Sea Cadets • Play schemes performed by the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country • A religious event held by the West Midlands Synod United Reform Church In addition to hosting your own events, the Birmingham Parks Ranger Service organises a programme of predominantly free events to engage with the community and to promote the environment. For 2019/20 the service attracted 9,723 participants attending 110 events. Some examples of events being held with minority communities include: • “Active Parks Down to Earth” which is a weekly outdoor learning event designed to provide an understanding of nature and the human position within the natural system. This programme targets pre-school and home taught children and families and is very popular within the Asian community. Outside the meetings there is further communication on social media sites, thus establishing positive links with BME communities. The sessions are now being led by a former volunteer leader qualified to Forest Schools level 3 and supported by the Ranger Service. For further details of membership follow https://www.facebook.com/groups/647804728621411/members/ • Talking Walks – a weekly walk at Kings Heath Park which is popular with the older person (i.e. the average age of the group is around 65). • Down To Earth Cotteridge Park U 5’s – A family learning event with pre- school children • ‘Enhance skills’ and ‘learning support at Cotteridge Park, which targets unemployed people and those wishing to develop employment prospects. • Duke of Edinburgh Award – is carried out by Cotteridge Park Friends with recruitment from local schools and colleges • Highbury Orchard Community/Woodland Wednesdays – an embracing project in partnership with The Chamberlain Highbury Trust, Highbury Orchard ‘Community Interest Company’ and Parks. The project targets mental health, women’s groups, vulnerable adults as well as wider community and places an emphasis on community and growing • Highbury Meditation Walks – A seasonal activity promoting positive mental health and well-being. • An International Women’s Day Walk To find out more about what's on in your area or to reserve a place at similar events please visit our Events page at https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/events/20089/parks Thrive - using gardening to change lives Thrive use an approach called social and therapeutic horticulture (STH), where their team of trained therapists work with plants and people to improve an individual’s physical and psychological health, communication and thinking skills. The therapists, together with dedicated volunteers, take a person-centred approach; they work in a variety of ways - in small groups, which maintain good ratios so that the therapeutic intervention is maximised, on a 1-1 basis for people who may require additional support at times, and also in larger groups, where there may be more of a focus on social interaction, facilitated discussion and group learning. Working in partnership with Parks, the TV gardens at King’s Heath provide a safe, secure and private space for the client gardeners, therapists and volunteers to work within. Thrive are also proud to be an approved City & Guilds Centre which enables them to deliver practical horticulture skills and training to both young people (16+) and adults wanting to get started in the world of horticulture and the large glasshouse in the TV gardens lends itself perfectly to facilitate sessions in a less structured or formal way like classroom-based learning. Midland Mencap’s Parkride Project - Parks working with Mencap to improve access for park users Parkride provides families access to a range of adapted and mainstream bikes to enjoy together for free in the park. Parkride operates in Sutton Park and can be found at Midland Mencap’s Outdoor Learning Centre, Clifton Road, Sutton Coldfield B75 6EB. There are different routes and distances around the park to suit the needs of a family and allows families to explore other activities going on in Sutton Park including a mini golf course where Midland Mencap have also provided advise to make the course more accessible to users. The Midland Mencap - ParkRide project has also arrange assisted cycling activities at Woodgate Valley Country Park as well as successfully applying for funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority “Better Streets” Community Fund for the improvement of paths within Woodgate Valley Country Park.