Local nature-based charity, Your Park Bristol & Bath, is calling on 20 businesses to join forces and support the city’s parks and green spaces through fundraising efforts. The charity has recently revealed concerning statistics that show a significant portion of the population faces difficulties in accessing their local parks. In response, Your Park Bristol & Bath has launched its 12-month campaign, “Reimagining Parks,” with a goal of raising £30k by October to begin necessary work and make a lasting impact on the 580 parks and green spaces in Bristol and Bath.
To kickstart their efforts, Your Park Bristol & Bath has launched their 100km Challenge, with a target of raising £10k. The charity is seeking 20 businesses to participate, with each committing to raising a minimum of £500. The challenge will take place in September, and participants can choose to walk, run, or complete the distance in any creative way they choose. This initiative not only supports the fundraising efforts but also encourages employees to spend time outdoors in their local parks and green spaces.
A key focus of Your Park’s “Reimagining Parks” campaign is to address the lack of inclusivity in the design of parks and green spaces. This is a significant barrier to access for disabled individuals and their caregivers, women and girls, minority ethnic groups, and those in low-income areas. The charity has identified three main factors that prevent people from using their local parks: physical accessibility, personal safety, and mental well-being.
Chief Executive of Your Park Bristol & Bath, Charlee Bennett, explains, “Parks are nature-rich, free to use, community assets that are good for everyone’s mental and physical health, but they have historically been designed through a very narrow lens. That means there are literally hundreds of thousands of people in our two cities who feel unable to make the most of their local green spaces.”
The “Reimagining Parks” campaign aims to ensure that everyone in Bristol and Bath has a park within a ten-minute reach of where they live, work, or study. This means making parks physically accessible for disabled individuals and their caregivers, designing them with the safety and enjoyment of women and girls in mind, and using them to support those with mental health issues.
To achieve this goal, Your Park Bristol & Bath plans to create two exemplary parks, one in Bristol (Hartcliffe Millennium Green) and one in Bath (Brickfields Park), to showcase what a fully accessible and safe park looks like. The charity also hopes to expand its “Roots to Wellbeing” program, a GP-referral green social prescribing program that offers weekly sessions in local parks to those with mental health issues, reaching 300 more people.
Charlee Bennett says, “Our campaign is not just changing landscapes, it’s fostering inclusivity, safety, and wellbeing. It’s a huge campaign for a small charity like ours to take on, but through our work with local communities over the last five years, we are absolutely clear on what needs to be done and we are determined to start delivering the changes now.”
For more information on the “Reimagining Parks” campaign, please visit https://yourpark.org.uk/reimagining-parks.
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.